Jeff Pettiford told his two kids it was “highly unlikely” that the suspects who carjacked them at their home in the Beverly neighborhood two weeks ago would return.
When thieves took the family’s other car this week, Pettiford was shocked.
“It was kind of surreal,” Pettiford told the Sun-Times. “The first thing I thought of is: ‘How am I going to explain this to my kids?’”
About 8:45 p.m. Nov. 2, Pettiford’s wife and the couple’s 12-year-old daughter were returning home in the 9300 block of South Pleasant Avenue when Damarri Conner and Kenneth Merritt, both armed with guns, allegedly attacked them and demanded their car keys, according to police and 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea’s office.
Pettiford, 46, heard screaming and came outside to see what was going on, prosecutors said. He said he was focused on “keeping my family safe.”
“That’s what was going through my mind, do whatever it takes to make sure that happens,” Pettiford said.
After Pettiford ran outside, Conner pointed a gun at him, grabbed him and demanded his keys, prosecutors said.
The men fled in the family’s black 2012 Audi sedan.
Police spotted the Audi parked in the 9600 block of South Crandon Avenue and spoke to someone who admitted to being in the vehicle that her friend “Mari,” later identified as Conner, was driving.
Then, about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Pettiford family’s Range Rover was stolen from the street in front of their home, officials said.
Officers found a vehicle used in that theft, a black Lincoln, and observed Conner going in and out of a house near the car in the 9700 block of South Merrion Avenue, prosecutors said.
Police searched the home and found clothing matching what the suspect was seen wearing during the Nov. 2 carjacking, officials said.
The family was able to track the Range Rover, and it was found in the 9700 block of South Merrill Avenue, authorities said.
Both Conner, 20, and Merritt, 26, were taken into custody Tuesday and charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and armed robbery with a firearm, police said.
Merritt admitted driving the Audi from the home, prosecutors said, telling authorities it was “supposed to be a smash-and-grab.”
Merritt wrote that “he was sorry” and “it got out of hand” on a picture from the crime scene of him and Conner standing over Pettiford’s wife, officials said.
Police reported no one in custody in the theft of the Range Rover, but Pettiford says he was “glad that we’ve arrested the people that committed both of these crimes.
“I’m glad that they continue to be in jail so that they can’t hurt us for a third or fourth time, or anyone else,” he said.
‘Everyone is shaken up and anxious’
The carjacking and theft have affected Pettiford and his family’s everyday life “in every way imaginable.”
His 12-year-old daughter no longer walks to school with her friends and instead walks with her father to feel safe.
“It’s been a lot of trauma in a short period of time,” Pettiford said. “The stuff with the kids is hardest. Everyone is shaken up and anxious.”
Pettiford also grew concerned about his son, who carpools to high school in the morning around the time the Range Rover was stolen.
“He could’ve easily been out there, and he would’ve had a gun to his head,” Pettiford said.
Pettiford told the Sun-Times the crimes could’ve been stopped in a “number of different ways.”
In 2016, Merritt was sentenced to 10 years in prison for three felonies he committed, authorities said. He was released in 2021 and his probation for the 2016 cases was set to end in 2024. Conner had a pending unlawful-use-of-a-weapon charge where his bond was set at $10,000 May 30, according to prosecutors.
Despite the carjacking and theft occurring where he and his family live, Pettiford said his perception of his neighborhood in Beverly has improved.
Seeing the courtroom full of friends and community members there to support him and his family “strengthened his belief in his community and neighborhood.”
“The outpouring of support is off the charts,” he said. “If there’s any positive to this, it’s that you feel all the support from your community and your friends.”
