2 arrested after violent carjackings in Gold Coast, including block where Pritzker lives

CHICAGO - Two suspected carjackers were taken into custody after attacking three people in 20 minutes in the Gold Coast Tuesday night, including the block where Gov. J.B. Pritzker lives, according to police.

No one was injured during the crime spree that began at 7:30 p.m. in the 1500 block of North State Parkway when the two people confronted a woman who was getting into her car, police said.

After grabbing her keys and property, the two pushed her to the ground and began kicking her before a passing car scared them off and they ran away, police said. The woman, 26, declined medical treatment at the scene.

Ten minutes later and a few blocks north, the same men jumped into a 2008 Audi sedan as a man sat behind the wheel in the 1400 block of North Astor Street, where the governor lives, police said.

The man, 41, got out of his car after they stole his wallet. The robbers tried to speed away but couldn’t because they didn’t know how to drive a manual shift, police said.

The governor was in Springfield Tuesday night as the Illinois General Assembly returned to session, a spokeswoman said. It wasn’t immediately known if any of Pritzker’s family members were home at the time of the attempted carjacking.

At 7:50 p.m. in the 1000 block of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive, a food delivery driver left his vehicle running when the two men walked over, pointed a gun at him and fled in his 2019 Nissan Sentra, police said.

Later Wednesday night, the suspects were taken into custody with the Sentra in the 7000 block of South Wood Street. They were identified as suspects in the State Parkway and Astor Street attacks, police said.

Charges have not been announced.