Police said Thursday a 13-year-old boy was assaulted in November for a carjacking with a charge of murder when he allegedly stole a vehicle in a gun from a man in Chicago.
The teenager, whose name was not released because he was a juvenile, was arrested Wednesday morning by the Chicago Police Department (CPD)’s task force for hijacking vehicles and charged with one serious criminal hijacking with a firearm, said police.
Investigators were able to connect the teenager with a car hijacking on November 21, 2020 when he took a vehicle forcibly from a 33-year-old man in the Wentworth area of Windy City, officials said.
Police Superintendent David Brown said the boy turned 13 ‘the day before he put a gun to the victim’s head’.
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He is due to appear in juvenile court on Thursday.
The arrest comes weeks after CPD announced the formation of the task force consisting of 40 police officers and four sergeants appointed in the five detective agencies of the force, the department said.
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Car hijackings increased by about 135% in 2020 compared to the previous year. Chicago saw more than 180% more car outages in January than in the same month last year. CPD recorded 218 car hijackings last January – a staggering increase in the 77 reported the same year last year, authorities told Fox News earlier.
Officials said CPD arrests show that characters are mostly between the ages of 15 and 20, but arrests show that they are sometimes even younger.
“We are now allowing 12-year-olds to commit these acts,” Detective Brendan Deenihan told a news conference on January 21 on the subject. “And we need to do something together as a city to stop these actions.”
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The police department’s motoring task force extends beyond just manpower to include public programs and collaborations with community groups and local, state and federal partners.
“This idea of our officers confronting a 13- and 12-year-old with a gun and the most unimaginable tragedy happening is one of our concerns, but I want to make it clear is for the victim,” Brown said. said. “And therefore, these consequences, whether you are young or old, must be important to discourage this behavior.”