A Chicago woman who was enjoying a cup of coffee inside her parked car on Saturday was the victim of an armed carjacking for the second time in the city, according to a report.
The city, like other large municipalities in the U.S., has been trying to get a grip on the rising trend.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said last week that there is a “very real and pervasive fear of carjacking across our city, our region and our state.”
Mayo Lori Lightfoot seen in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The Economist magazine reported that Lightfoot announced the city’s carjacking task force—which was unveiled in 2020—will extend hours from 16 to 24 hours a day. Cook County has seen a 40% jump in carjackings this year.
CBS Chicago reported that the situation has gotten so bad, the Cook County Sheriff’s office attended the city’s auto show and urged people to consider buying cars that come with tracking technology.
Lightfoot announced a task force to try and counter the rise in carjackings across the city. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
( Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The 19-year-old woman was targeted in the city’s Mayfair neighborhood, police told CBS Chicago. The woman was sitting in a parked car with a 29-year-old man and an armed stranger began banging on their window and demanded that they give up the car. They both got out and the suspect took off, they said.
Her sibling told the station that the two were having coffee in the car at the time.
“You need to be on the lookout,” the sister said. “It’s not safe no more.”
Fox 32 Chicago reported last month that Chicago police have received 70 reports of carjackings year-to-date as of late January, and have made more than 56 carjacking-related arrests.
