Woman says she’s leaving neighborhood after latest carjacking spree

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — After a spree of carjackings in Bucktown this week amid an ongoing carjacking crisis in Chicago, one family has decided to move out of the neighborhood.

As CBS 2’s Jermont Terry reported Thursday, people are saying they feel like sitting targets in their cars. Terry has himself has stood on Damen Avenue before reporting on a carjacking spree – and now a new crew is back.

“The terror in her, you know, in her face – it’s just something that you don’t want to see,” said Prescilla Malayter.

Malayter will never forget what she witnessed while waiting to pick up her son from daycare on in Bucktown on Wednesday.

“They were knocking on her windshield and then I heard her screams – and then when I look over, he was a gun pointing at her,” Malayter said. “He was wearing a mask and yelling at her to get out of the car.”

Just 15 yards away, Malayter witnessed a woman in a Mercedes Benz get carjacked at Moffat Street and Damen Avenue.

“You can imagine how terrified we were, just thinking about like that could have been one of us,” she said.

The carjacking crew drove the stolen Benz down Damen Avenue, and Chicago Police linked them to two more carjackings in less than two hours.

“They got all the way to the south loop, I think,” she said.

Chopper 2 was there when officers cornered part of the crew after their third carjacking, on Hamlin Avenue in West Garfield Park. Two were arrested.

Bucktown has been home for Malayter for two years. Yet this carjacking spree and others – like one in December where a father was shot trying to save his wife and daughter, also in Bucktown – have solidified her family’s decision to move.

“We weren’t looking for a sign before, but this was it, that I think it’s time,” Malayter said.

Carjackings citywide continue to spike.

CBS 2 examined the data. They show 542 people have ben carjacked so far this year, compared to 265 in the same period in 2020. And we know last year ended with a record 135 percent jump.

It leaves many to wonder what the summer will bring.

“In terms of safety, we just don’t feel safe,” Malayter said.

It is believed there were up to four people involved in this latest carjacking crew. Police took those two teens into custody on the West Side, but others are still on the run.

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