Delivery Driver Shot During Attempted Vehicle Theft In Chatham
CHICAGO (CBS) – More delivery drivers targeted by carjackers and robbers. At least one more driver was added to the growing list of victims Wednesday after a driver was shot during an attempted theft.
One of the things delivery apps and rideshare apps have in common is that drivers expect to be met by complete strangers when they pick someone up or drop something off.
As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported, Wednesday's attack on an Amazon delivery worker was no different. The driver was making a delivery in the 600 block of East 87th Place around 5:20 a.m., when three complete strangers shot this driver and tried, unsuccessfully, to take his car from him.
"is he a paper? delivery guy….10-4"
Those deliveries never made it to their destination.
"Caller stated he was shot three times."
Sources said the driver, a 32-year-old Amazon delivery worker, drove himself to a nearby Walgreen's parking lot after he was shot. An ambulance took him to the University of Chicago Hospital instead in serious but stable condition. Hit twice – in the shoulder and thigh.
"As I was going in the house I heard five gunshots."
Helena Cohen lives next door. she was warming up her car when she saw the three carjackers.
"I was just so shocked and so scared all I did was start hollering and screaming," she said.
The delivery worker became the target. The three tried to get away but couldn't drive the workers car because it was a stick shift.
"It's beyond crisis level when you are seeing gig workers constantly targeted."
Lenny Sanchez is the Illinois Chapter Director of the Independent Drivers Guild.
he estimates at least one of these attacks happens every day.
"It is devastating. When someone is working for gig work, they're doing it out of necessity. it's rarely out of pleasure or boredom that people are doing gig work," Sanchez said.
In February so far, police tell us there have been at least three pizza delivery workers robbed within three weeks. Feb. 2, 15, and 19 -- that's just pizza.
Sanchez says it's almost impossible for those workers to find justice.
"When we are a victim of this type of crime, it is the driver's responsibility to retain an attorney, to have the application subpoenaed, to get the data on that ride."
We reached out to Amazon about today's crime. They said they're working with law enforcement and are supporting their driver. But when asked, they wouldn't explain how.