Boys, 13 and 16, charged in Jefferson Park, Chinatown carjackings

Two teenage boys, ages 13 and 16, face charges in two separate carjackings in the Jefferson Park and Chinatown neighborhoods.

A 16-year-old boy, who wasn’t named because he’s a juvenile, allegedly carjacked someone at gunpoint Dec. 1 in the 2300 block of South Canal Street, Chicago police said.

A 31-year-old man was sitting in his vehicle that afternoon when a suspect knocked on the driver’s side window, showed a handgun and demanded he exited the vehicle, police said then. The suspect took the man’s personal belongings and drove away in his vehicle.

The boy was arrested Tuesday in Bronzeville on a felony count of aggravated vehicular highjacking, police said.

Also Wednesday, police announced charges against a 13-year-old boy accused of carjacking someone Jan. 7 in the 5100 block of West Strong Street in Jefferson Park.

They boy allegedly approached a 30-year-old man, showed a handgun and demanded the keys to his vehicle and searched the man’s pockets for his belongings, police said.

The boy was arrested Tuesday in Burnside after he was caught inside a stolen vehicle, police said.

He was charged with aggravated vehicular highjacking and criminal trespassing.

Both children were expected to appear in juvenile court Wednesday.

Carjackings in Chicago in 2020 more than doubled compared over the previous year.