Illinois Senate majority leader says husband fired shots after they were carjacked

Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford revealed Thursday that her husband fired shots at carjackers after a Mercedes SUV they were in was seized from them at gunpoint in the western suburbs.

Lightford and her husband, Eric McKennie, were in the Mercedes dropping off a friend Tuesday night in Broadview when three masked men in a Dodge Durango boxed in the SUV, police said.

“I begged them not to shoot my husband, not to shoot me,” Lightford told reporters Thursday morning at a Christmas present giveaway for children in Proviso Township. “They took everything off me that I had of value.”

Lightford said her husband gave the carjackers the keys to the car.

“They had separated me and my husband,” she said on WGN-TV. “After they got the guns off of us, my husband told me to run. I ran, reluctantly, because I didn’t want to leave him there. And it was a scary run because now shots are being fired. I thought for sure they were going to shoot me.”

Lightford said her husband is a concealed-carry permit holder. He fired at the carjackers, she said.

“I’m doing much better today,” Lightford said, adding she didn’t realize how traumatic a carjacking could be.

Police said they recovered the Mercedes, which Lightford said was a “loaner” she got from a dealer while her vehicle was in the shop.

No arrests have been made in the carjacking, officials said.