Feds announce charges against 5 men in Chicago, SW suburban carjackings

CHICAGO (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - Federal charges have been filed against five people in connection with three carjacking cases in Chicago and the southwest suburbs dating back to 2017.

All five suspects were indicted on federal charges of carjacking by violence, force or intimidation with intent to cause death or serious bodily harm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced Friday.

Brian McKenzie, 23, was charged with a pair of carjackings on Oct. 18, 2018, in Orland Park and Oak Forest, according to prosecutors. He is accused of using a handgun to hold up two people shortly before noon in the parking lot of a restaurant in the 7800 block of West 159th Street in Orland Park.

McKenzie sped off east on 159th in the victims’ Dodge Charger before the car hit a construction worker and crashed into a pile of dirt as he tried to turn north onto Cicero Avenue in Oak Forest, the U.S. attorney’s office said. McKenzie then got out and ran east on 159th on foot, pursued by Oak Forest police officers.

Investigators later found a 9 mm handgun in the Charger, prosecutors said. The gun had been reported stolen in Lake County on Sept. 10, 2018.

McKenzie used another handgun to hijack a Mazda 3 that was stopped in traffic, according to court documents. An officer ran up to the Mazda, drew his gun and ordered McKenzie out of the car.

McKenzie instead put the car into reverse and stepped on the gas, hitting the officer with the open passenger door before running over the officer’s leg while driving away, prosecutors said. The officer fired two gunshots during the incident, but did not hit McKenzie.

McKenzie was expected to appear in federal court for a detention hearing on Jan. 4.

Three other men — 26-year-old Tyran Carter, 21-year-old Dwayne Liberty and 20-year-old Terronde Gordon — were indicted in connection with the July 20, 2018, carjacking of a Land Rover in Bucktown, prosecutors said. Carter is also federally charged with stealing a Toyota Prius earlier that morning.

The trio was previously charged by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office for the Bucktown carjacking, in which they allegedly took the SUV from a pregnant woman and her husband outside their garage in the 1700 block of North Wolcott, police and Cook County prosecutors said at the time. Carter was also charged in Cook County with taking the Prius from an Uber driver in a Hyde Park carjacking.

All three of them face federal arraignment on Feb. 5.

A fifth man, 24-year-old Kashif Dukes, was indicted for a carjacking on Sept. 10, 2017 in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side, the U.S. attorney’s office said. He is accused of pulling out a handgun and threatening the driver of a Mercedes-Benz sedan before taking the car. Prosecutors did not specify the location of the incident.

U.S. District Judge M. David Weisman ordered him detained in federal custody pending his trial, federal officials said.

Each federal carjacking charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.