Teen boy charged with carjacking 80-year-old man in Austin
CHICAGO - A 17-year-old boy has been charged with carjacking an 80-year-old man in the Austin neighborhood last month.
The man was in a Ford Transit Connect in an alley in the 100 block of North Lamon Avenue when the teen and two other people approached on April 13, according to Chicago police.
The teen threatened the man with a gun, told him to leave the van and then hit him with the gun, police said.
The teen drove away in the van and the two others ran off. The man declined medical treatment, police said.
Officers arrested the 17-year-old Wednesday morning in the 1100 block of South Hamilton Avenue. He is charged as a juvenile with aggravated vehicular hijacking, according to police.
The teen, who wasn’t named because he is a minor, is expected in court Thursday.
Carjackings have spiked in Chicago in the last year, with police responding to 340 carjackings in January and February alone. Last year, 1,417 carjackings were reported across the city, more than double than the previous year.