Police: Suspect steals from two good Samaritans in string of carjackings
Stopping to help a person who appeared to be the victim of a stalled or rolled over vehicle didn't pay off for two good Samaritans Saturday morning in Aurora, authorities said.
In what Aurora police are calling a "bizarre series of events," a 26-year-old Chicago man is accused of stealing three cars in a 12-minute span, using a handgun to help take the first and driving away in vehicles of those who offered assistance in the second and third. All three vehicles crashed.
The suspect is being treated for nonlife-threatening injuries at a Chicago-area hospital, and Sgt. Bill Rowley said police expect to interview him later today and file charges shortly thereafter.
The carjackings began at 5:25 a.m. at a gas station on the 300 block of South Broadway Street, police said, when a man described as in his 20s with long black hair showed a handgun and took a gray 2004 Kia minivan from a 36-year-old Aurora man.
Eight minutes later, at 5:33 a.m., a patrol officer noticed the Kia a few miles away from the gas station. But by then, a 33-year-old Sandwich man had stopped to give aid to the suspect, who had crashed the Kia near Lake Street and Indian Trail. And the suspect already had stolen the Sandwich man's car - a black 2005 Chevrolet - and driven away, police said.
Police said they found a loaded handgun in the passenger compartment of the first stolen vehicle, the Kia.
Four minutes later, at 5:37 a.m., police said dispatchers received a call about a rollover crash involving the second stolen vehicle, the Chevrolet, on I-88 near Farnsworth Avenue.
By the time officers arrived, an 18-year-old Sycamore woman had stopped to offer help and "had her vehicle immediately stolen by the same offender," police said. The suspect then drove away in the Sycamore woman's gray Dodge Avenger, heading east on I-88, police said.
A regional broadcast to all area police agencies helped raise awareness of the search for the suspect in the multiple carjackings, police said. Members of the Kane County sheriff's office and the Aurora police drone team joined in the investigation.
About two hours later, Illinois State Police notified Aurora police that troopers had found the Dodge near I-290 in Bellwood, pursued it briefly and taken the suspect into custody after he crashed.
The man at the gas station and the people who stopped, believing they were offering help to a driver in need, were not hurt when the suspect took their cars.
"I'm very grateful for that," Rowley said.