Woman shaken after being carjacked in Wicker Park; car was later used in other crimes
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman was carjacked at gunpoint in Wicker Park recently – and she didn't see her car again until it was used in another crime.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported Tuesday, police arrested three men in that stolen car. But only two were still in custody late Tuesday afternoon.
The woman in whose car they were arrested said the fact that one of the men was released is really hard to hear.
She didn't want to show her face, but she wants everyone to hear directly from a victim of the crimes spiking across Chicago right now.
"I just thank God me or my daughter didn't get hurt," the woman said. "That's all that was going through my mind."
The woman is thankful, but still shaken up.
"Mentally, it is taking a toll," she said.
We sat down with the woman who was surrounded at gunpoint Sunday in Wicker Park.
"The one that was aiming at me - he had like a laser, or a red beam on his gun," she said.
The woman was carjacked at 10:12 p.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, near Ashland Avenue and Division Street. The woman told police three male robbers got out of a blue sedan and demanded the keys to her white sport-utility vehicle at gunpoint.
The woman was unloading her car with her daughter, who was able to run into the house.
"I just froze completely," the woman said.
She said all four robbers surrounding her had guns, and were wearing ski masks. But she kept referring to them as "boys."
"Even though I couldn't see their face physically through the mask, you could just tell they were kids," the woman said.
So were the three arrested in her stolen car actually juveniles? Police aren't saying.
They only said the crew surrounded and robbed a 51-year-old woman at gunpoint Monday night near Mozart Street and Armitage Avenue in Logan Square and then drove away - crashing at Western Avenue and Hubbard Street a couple miles from the scene.
Police arrested all three of them, but we've learned only two were still in custody Tuesday afternoon. They won't say why.
The two suspects who were arrested and held – both teenage boys – were charged with two counts each of armed robbery Tuesday night. One of the boys was 16, the other 15.
Police said the boys were also charged with the armed robbery of a 36-year-old woman in the 1600 block of North Rockwell Street in Logan Square a shortly before they were caught.
Police said a weapon was also recovered.
But police also won't say if the crew that had been using her car for robberies is believed to be the same crew that robbed the woman in Wicker Park.
"They did tell me because I'm unable to identify them, that they probably would be let go," the woman said.
And while the woman is thankful that she and her daughter are OK - and her car is off the streets and not being used in any more crimes – she said it is totaled. She also does not know what police were able to recover from it.
"My entire life is in there," the woman said.
Tuesday was also the woman's is her second day missing work.
As she picks up the pieces, she said: "Be careful. Watch your surroundings. Don't ever think it can't be you."
Chicago Police told us late Tuesday that charges were still pending against the two still in custody. They still would not say if the suspects are believed to be tied to any other recent armed robberies.
The woman's carjacking in Wicker Park Sunday was part of a spree on which we have been reporting on – with 10 victims targeted by armed robbers Sunday night into Monday. Now, police are warning about another spree – 10 more robberies on Tuesday.
We ran the numbers. Chicago ahs not seen robberies this high since 2007.
