Chicago police have nabbed two teenagers – ages 15 and 16 – for stealing a man’s car at gunpoint on Tuesday night, officials said Wednesday.
The teens were arrested shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday on North Leclaire Avenue in Chicago’s Oak Park neighborhood in connection with a carjacking that was reported earlier in the night and approximately two-and-a-half miles away, the Chicago Police Department said in a press release.
Police said the duo forcibly stole a vehicle from a 48-year-old man on Tuesday night. Officers who responded to the area saw a car that matched the stolen vehicle’s description and tried to perform a traffic stop. The boys ran off, but police caught up with them.
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The 15-year-old was charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon, both of which are felonies. The second teen was charged with a single felony: aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm.
Both suspects, whose names were not released because of their ages, were scheduled to appear in juvenile court on Wednesday.
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Earlier Wednesday, police announced the arrest of another male, 18-year-old Anthony Blackburn, for a string of carjacking-related incidents from November 2020.
Officials charged Blackburn with two counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm; one count of attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm; and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm – all of which are felonies.
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Police said he was arrested Monday morning for his involvement in a Nov. 16 carjacking and attempted carjacking of three men in two separate incidents.
The arrests come just weeks after CPD announced the creation of the task force that consists of 40 police officers and four sergeants assigned to work across the force’s five detective bureaus, the department said.
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The arrest comes just weeks after CPD announced the creation of the task force that consists of 40 police officers and four sergeants assigned to work across the force’s five detective bureaus, the department said.
“This idea of our officers confronting a 13- and 12-year-old with a gun and the most unthinkable tragedy happens is one of our concerns, but our primary concern, I want to make this clear, is for the victim,” Chicago Police Superintendent David O. Brown said at a press conference announcing the task force. “And so these consequences, whether you’re young or old, have to be significant in order to discourage this behavior.”