A 17-year-old boy is charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to carjack a retired Chicago police officer in his Lawndale driveway Sunday, leading to a shootout that left the teen wounded and the retired officer shot four times.
Mareon Jones was arrested later that day when he showed up at a hospital wearing the same clothes he had on during the attack, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak said Tuesday.
He was on probation for a carjacking conviction three years earlier.
Prosecutors said Jones and another person got out of an Audi SUV at the retired officer’s home Sunday afternoon while the officer sat in a parked car in the 3800 block of West Grenshaw.
Jones was carrying a 9 mm rifle and came up to the passenger door, while his accomplice came up on the driver’s side with a handgun, Hanichak said.
They demanded the officer’s money, but he said he didn’t have any, Hanichak said. The retired officer got out of his car and positioned himself behind another car in his driveway.
The driver of the getaway car then told the two gunmen to take his car keys, Hanichak said. As Jones allegedly approached the retired cop with the rifle, the retired cop took out his own gun and opened fire.
They exchanged gunfire, sending bullets flying into the windows of neighbors’ homes, then the gunmen drove away, Hanichak said.
The retired officer, 59, was shot three times in his arm and once in the abdomen, Hanichak said.
Jones was captured on surveillance video leaving the scene of the shooting and switching into another car that took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound, Hanichak said.
He allegedly refused to tell hospital staff how he was shot. Police arrived and arrested him.
The officer identified Jones in a photo lineup, Hanichak said.
Jones lives with his mother in Humboldt Park, worked at a cafe in Evanston and was studying for his GED, his defense attorney said. The attorney noted that Jones has not confessed to the shooting and there could be issues with how he was identified.
Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered Jones held without bail on counts of attempted murder, aggravated attempted vehicular hijacking, aggravated battery and attempted robbery.
