4 charged after botched hijacking leads to gunfire, high-speed chase

Two Downers Grove residents escaped injury when a gunman fired at them while they tried to prevent four people from stealing a car from their home garage, authorities said Friday.

The would-be thieves - two men and two male juveniles - were apprehended after a high-speed chase that began in Darien and ended with a crash in Chicago.

Charged with attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking are Lamourice Shepherd, 21, and Dywane Hendricks, 21, both of Chicago, along with the two juveniles. In addition, Shepherd and Hendricks are charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Downers Grove police said they responded around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday to a call of shots fired on the 7400 block of Webster.

When they arrived, they discovered that a car had stopped in front of the house and two of the suspects had begun walking up the driveway toward the car, which was warming up in the open garage.

One of the residents spotted them through the home's front window and, along with another person, confronted the two men.

The suspects returned to their vehicle at which time one of them pointed a gun at the female resident and fired a shot before fleeing, authorities said.

A short time later, a Darien police officer saw the suspects and tried to stop their vehicle at 75th and Cass. They fled and a chase began that continued onto northbound I-55, when Illinois State Police took over the chase.

The suspects left the expressway and crashed at Martin Luther King Drive in Chicago where all four were taken into custody. Police said they recovered two handguns.

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said there has been a spike in vehicle hijackings in recent weeks.

"The common thread exhibited by all these defendants is the complete disregard and disdain for the rule of law and our justice system. In DuPage County, however, we do not share their indifference," he said in a statement.