Two people in their 50s were carjacked in separate incidents Thursday on the South and West Sides, including a man who was beaten with a pipe in Austin.
About 6:35 p.m., the 55-year-old was sitting at a red light in the 400 block of North Cicero Avenue when two males approached, one armed with a gun and the other with a short metal pipe, Chicago police said.
They told the man to get out of his Acura MDX and he complied, but when he did so the male with the pipe hit him several times, police said.
The carjackers fled in the man’s vehicle, police said. The man was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
Less than two hours later, a 51-year-old woman was carjacked at gunpoint in Kenwood on the South Side.
She was sitting in her gray BMW sedan about 8:10 p.m. in the 4500 block of South Ellis Avenue when a black car pulled up alongside, police said. Two males got out of the car and one of them pointed a gun at the woman.
The suspect told the woman to get out of her car and leave her purse and cellphone, police said. The woman complied and the males fled in her BMW. No injuries were reported.
Earlier Thursday, Police Superintendent David Brown announced steps the department was taking to address the recent spike in carjackings. Carjackings in 2020 doubled in Chicago compared to the previous year, and so far in 2021 there have been at least 144 reported.
