Feds hit Chicago man with carjacking charge after car theft in Orland Park

A Chicago man accused of carjacking a Mercedes Benz in Orland Park last week has been arrested and now faces a criminal charge in federal court, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The charge against David Johnson, 23, appears to be the first federal charge to result from a carjacking in 2021, which has seen a surge of carjackings around Chicago. Federal prosecutors have also recently announced carjacking charges related to incidents in 2020.

Johnson is accused of stealing the Mercedes Benz at 5:22 p.m. Friday in the 15500 block of Hollyhock Court in Orland Park, fleeing and firing at least one shot at a police officer. He is on supervised release for a previous federal weapons charge, according to a 10-page criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said the victim had stopped his vehicle and was seated in it for about five minutes when someone opened the driver door, pressed the muzzle of a handgun to the side of the victim’s face and said, “Don’t you f---ing move” and “give me the key.”

He ordered the victim out of the car, got in and drove away, according to the complaint. Seven minutes after a 911 call, an Oak Forest police officer saw the stolen car traveling east in the 5600 block of 151st Street. The officer followed and activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens, but the car did not stop.

A second Oak Forest officer also spotted the stolen car and followed it as it sped onto northbound Interstate 57, records show. The stolen car exited at 119th Street, traveled north along Hamlet Avenue and hit multiple other vehicles, according to the complaint. It stopped when it crashed into the rear of a vehicle at 112th Street and Hamlet at 5:35 p.m.

That’s when the man alleged to be Johnson got out of the stolen car and began to run east along 112th. The feds say the second Oak Forest officer followed on foot. During the chase, Johnson allegedly turned and pointed a handgun in the officer’s direction. The officer said he heard a gunshot and saw a muzzle flash.

Other officers arrived to help with the chase, according to the complaint. One Chicago officer saw a man with a hood partly covering his face get into the back of a black Acura after speaking on a cellphone, it said. Chicago police stopped the Acura at 109th and Loomis streets at 6 p.m.

Police said they found three men in the car, including Johnson in the back seat. After getting out of the car, they said Johnson seemed nervous and began vomiting on the street. They said they took him to the Orland Park police station.

Shown a six-person photo lineup, the victim allegedly said Johnson looked like the person who stole the Mercedes Benz, but he acknowledged he had only seen Johnson’s eyes and nose. Johnson allegedly told police he’d never been to Orland Park.

Inside the Mercedes, authorities said they found a black Taurus 9mm pistol loaded with 23 cartridges of live ammunition and equipped with a high-capacity magazine. They said they did not find the gun used to fire at the officer during the foot chase.

However, they did say they found a wallet belonging to the victim of the carjacking in the 11100 block of South Bishop Street — “in the path of Johnson’s flight.” A search of his phone also revealed that, at 5:21 p.m. on Friday, someone used the phone to get directions from Wheeler Drive and Harlem Avenue in Orland Park to the 8900 block of South Morgan Street in Chicago.

The feds say Johnson had previously been sentenced to 14 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm and had been released in April 2020. He also has a 2017 conviction for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to the complaint.