Two Chicago men have been charged in the attacks of three people within 20 minutes and attempting to steal their cars in the Gold Coast Tuesday, according to Chicago police.
Demontae Walkins, 18, of West Englewood, and Charles Benson, 20, of South Shore, were charged with several felonies, including armed robbery, aggravated battery and vehicular hijacking, police said.
The two made their first appearance in court Thursday.
No one was injured in the attacks that began at 7:30 p.m.
The two men allegedly grabbed a woman’s keys and belongings as she was getting into her car in the 1500 block of North State Parkway, police said.
Walkins and Benson then allegedly pushed her to the ground and began kicking her until a passing car scared them off, police said. The woman, 26, declined medical help.
Ten minutes later and a few blocks north, Walkins and Benson allegedly jumped into a 2008 Audi sedan with a man behind the wheel in the 1400 block of North Astor Street, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker lives, police said.
The man, 41, got out of his car after they allegedly stole his wallet. The two allegedly tried to get away but couldn’t because they didn’t know how to drive stick shift, police said.
Not long after, a food delivery driver left his vehicle running at 7:50 p.m. in the 1000 block of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive when Walkins and Benson allegedly walked over, pointed a gun at him and fled in his 2019 Nissan Sentra, police said.
Later Tuesday night, the two men were taken into custody with the Sentra in the 7000 block of South Wood Street, police said.
The governor was in Springfield Tuesday night, a spokeswoman said earlier this week.
