5 carjackings committed within 24 hours across Chicago area
CHICAGO - Chicago police are investigating five carjackings in 24 hours from Saturday through Sunday.
Two on the South Side they believe are connected to another carjacking in the south suburbs.
In many of the cases, witnesses describe the carjackers as teens. No one has been arrested.
A 2017 blue Kia Forte was taken near 103rd and Kedzie in the early morning hours Sunday in Mount Greenwood where one of the armed carjackers fired a gun.
"You had multiple offenders brandishing guns and they shot that gun, luckily no one was injured," said Matt O’Shea, 19th Ward Alderman. "This could’ve been another tragedy."
One hour later, the same crew went after a rideshare driver who had his black Ford Expedition taken in the 102nd block of south Oakley Avenue.
"The carjackings are continuing. The superintendent talked about how it's trended down since the beginning of the year, but obviously it's still active," said Brendan Deenihan, Chief of Detectives for Chicago Police.
Chicago Police launched the vehicular hijacking task force earlier this year. CPD sent a monthly crime report showing a 51-percent drop in the number of vehicular hijackings since January, compared to the number of vehicular hijackings in May.
The number from the start of the year through June 6, 2021 shows there has been 661 carjackings. That number is up from the same time period last year when there were 395.
Saturday in the downtown area, two SUV’s were taken after the victims were bumped from behind and when they got out of their vehicles, they were carjacked. The incidents were 10 blocks and five minutes apart from one another.
"We have had success in the past with ensuring that when we process the cars with finger prints and DNA hits, we can put those offenders in the cars," said Deenihan. "Those two are connected out south."