Ride share driver, passenger forced out of vehicle at gunpoint in Jefferson Park during carjacking; car later set on fire on Mayfair side street
by BRIAN NADIG
A ride share driver had his vehicle carjacked at gunpoint at about 2 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, in Jefferson Park in the 16th District and then a short time later the white 2020 Toyota Camry was set on fire in Mayfair following reports that it had been traveling at a high rate of speed the wrong way on one-way streets in the neighboring 17th District, according to Chicago police.
The driver reported that he was taking a passenger home when he stopped in the 4700 block of North Avondale Avenue, just south of Lawrence Avenue, due to a fallen tree branch and that a man displaying a handgun exited from a Mitsubishi utility truck, which had another occupant, and demanded that the driver and his passenger get out of the vehicle, police said.
The Mitsubishi and Toyota vehicles reportedly were seen leaving the area through a nearby alley, police said. The assailants were described as Hispanic males, and the man with the gun was reported wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and dark pants, police said.
The passenger left her cell phone and wallet in the backseat, and the phone was recovered in a puddle outside a gas station near Elston and Kostner avenues, police said. A tracking app on the phone led officers to the gas station, police said.
About 10 minutes after the robbery, the Camry was recovered in the 4700 block of North Kelso Avenue after it was set on fire, which was put out by firefighters, police said.
A surveillance camera on the block showed a man wearing a red hooded sweatshirt holding a gasoline can and walking toward the vehicle, police said.
