A 21-year-old man with three prior felony convictions is accused of working with a 15-year-old boy to carjack a man at gunpoint on the Northwest Side.
The victim, a 21-year-old man from Sterling, Illinois, arrived in the 4500 block of North Kenton Avenue around 10 p.m. August 12 to pick someone up, according to prosecutors. As he arrived, he looked down to text the woman he was meeting to let her know he had arrived. But when he looked back up, the 15-year-old was standing outside his car, pointing a silver-and-black handgun at him, prosecutors said in a detention filing.
The teen allegedly opened the driver’s door and grabbed the man by the arm, forcing him out of his 2025 Volkswagen Jetta while holding the gun to his neck. Prosecutors said the boy demanded the man’s belongings and ordered him to unlock his phone.
As the victim stood with his hands in the air, Williams allegedly climbed into the passenger seat and the pair drove away.
The woman the victim planned to pick up stepped outside just in time to see him standing with his hands raised and the two hijackers driving away. She called 911 and, because the man had been sharing his location with her, began relaying that information to police, according to the detention filing.
A short time later, the Jetta was detected by a license plate reader, and Cook County Sheriff’s Office helicopter officers soon located the vehicle near 21st Street and South Loomis Street. The air unit followed the car until it crashed, prosecutors said.
Police arrested Williams and the juvenile after they allegedly ran from the crashed vehicle. Williams was wearing a ski mask on his head, and officers found a firearm next to the juvenile, according to the allegations.
The victim identified the juvenile in a photo lineup. He also was only 90% certain of his identification of Williams because Williams had been wearing a ski mask, prosecutors said.
Williams denied knowing that the vehicle was stolen, allegedly telling officers that the boy had picked him up in it. However, prosecutors also said Williams told police that he and the boy had been together since 6 p.m., about four hours before the car was hijacked.
Williams is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm. The juvenile, who is not being publicly identified because of his age, faces the same charge along with aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon. He also had an active warrant, according to police.
Judge John Hock granted prosecutors’ request to detain Williams pending trial.
