Woman Held at Gunpoint, Man Beaten With Pipe in Separate Carjackings, Chicago Police Say – NBC Chicago

Two people in their fifties were ambushed on the south and west sides in various incidents on Thursday, including a man who was hit with a pipe in Austin.

At around 6:35 p.m., the 55-year-old was sitting at a red light on the 400 block of North Cicero Avenue when two men approached, one with a gun and the other with a short metal whistle, Chicago police said.

They told the man to get out of his Acura MDX and he gave in, but when he did, the man hit him with a pipe several times, police said.

The carjackers fled in the man’s vehicle, the police said. The man was taken to the mountain. Sinai Hospital, where his condition stabilized.

Less than two hours later, a 51-year-old woman was stolen at gunpoint in Kenwood on the south side.

She was sitting in her gray BMW sedan on the 4500 block of South Ellis Avenue at around 8:10 p.m. when a black car pulled up next to it, police said. Two men got out of the car and one of them pointed a gun at the woman.

The suspect told the woman to get out of her car and get out of her purse and cell phone, police said. The woman followed and the men fled in their BMW. No injuries were reported.

The police broke out on the previous Thursday. David Brown announced steps the department is taking to address the recent surge in carjackings. In Chicago, carjackings doubled year over year in 2020, with at least 144 reported so far in 2021.

Brown and head of detectives, Brendan Deenihan, said the department will add more detectives to help find the people who are perpetrating the citywide carjackings and bring them to Cook County prosecutors for prosecution.

Brown said the city’s carjacking crimes are committed on average by people between the ages of 15 and 20, with one perpetrator only being 12 years old.

Brown urged others to work with the city’s young people, saying it would take more than just law enforcement to contain the problem.

“Law enforcement agencies cannot do this alone. We need everyone – teachers, mentors, coaches, parents, the faith community, and others – to help us,” Brown said.

Deenihan added that the additional resources CPD added in 2021 will allow a carjacking-specific team to operate city-wide in every area of ​​the detective department. He said the department must work personally with the neighborhoods to resolve the issue.

“We need to work directly with young people to create opportunities and dissuade them from contributing to this problem,” Deenihan said.

CPD has shared best practice tips to avoid becoming a victim of carjacking in Chicago. Brown said the groups of carjackers tend to travel in pairs or four, and usually individuals advertise the opportunity.

“One of the tips we try to give victims is to be aware of those around them,” Brown said. “Try as much as you can while walking from a store, off your car, and back to your car to look around for any suspicious activity. If you see anything suspicious, this is where you have to call 911 and say Behind my car stood a suspicious car instead of approaching an armed confrontation. ”

Brown noted that some carjackings have found their way into the Chicago suburbs, which is why CPD is working hard to reduce the crimes of regional collaboration.

Police said earlier Thursday they were looking for a group of men involved in a series of carjackings and armed robbery in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

The group is also suspected of having been recently shot dead in the 10th and 11th Police Districts on the West Side and is considered “armed and dangerous,” police said.

In every incident, the men use vehicles that were taken in previous armed robberies, said police in Chicago.

Police said the men approached a restaurant through a driveway in the 5600 block of South Harlem on a robbery Sunday that was captured on video, then got out of their vehicle and entered the restaurant through the drive-through window.

The Chicago police have released a new video of armed suspects entering a restaurant through the window in the drive-through.

One reported carjacking occurred Tuesday at 7:20 a.m. on the 9800 block of South Halsted Street and another on Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. on the 200 block of South Wacker Place, police said.

The Chicago police released a new video on Wednesday showing a terrible carjacking in front of the Willis Tower.

The group was allegedly involved in armed carjacking in Summit, Maywood, Matteson, Palos Heights, Oak Forest and Oak Park at the same time, police said.

There are three to four men in the group, police said. They wear black clothes, masks and have been seen driving a silver 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander.

Police said on Wednesday that six robberies had been reported in the city. In at least four of these incidents, the ridesharing drivers were targeted, the authorities said.

“If it looks like trouble, it’s nine times out of ten trouble,” said Michael Wilhite, a retired DEA agent who consults on law enforcement. “Just be aware of your surroundings and be safe.”

Wilhite recommends locking the doors at all times, leaving space between cars at traffic lights and not leaving the car if carjackers try to bump into your vehicle from behind. Instead, go to the nearest police station.

“The whole goal is to survive the encounter, to survive the encounter,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Area Four’s detectives at 312-746-8251.