Three men and a teen boy are facing a number of charges after they allegedly tried to steal a minivan and led police on a miles-long chase that ended in a crash on Chicago’s South Side.
Officers responding to a report of “shots fired” around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday said they saw a minivan traveling “erratically” on Kedzie Avenue and watched someone in the minivan fire shots at another vehicle.
Officers pursued the vehicle and the chase continued to an intersection at 59th Street and Western Avenue where the minivan ran a red light and crashed into two other vehicles.
Four people from those two vehicles were taken to Holy Cross Hospital where their conditions weren’t immediately known.
“I was sitting on my front porch then they came past probably doing about maybe 120 rolling with the side door open,” said witness Josh Ostrega. “It’s just crazy! It’s nothing new honestly, you see it every day pretty much.”
Carl Jenkins, 36, Jodie Christian, 22, Traveon Elbert and a 17-year-old boy were charged in connection with an attempted hijacking and the chase.
The three men were each charged with felony aggravated attempted vehicular hijacking with the discharge of a firearm, four felony counts of aggravated assault with the discharge of a firearm and four felony counts of attempted robbery armed with a firearm.
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Elbert was also charged with one felony count of possession of a controlled substance, one felony count of aggravated fleeing and one felony count of aggravated driving under the influence with a suspended or revoked license. He was also cited for other traffic violations.
The teen boy was charged with one count of felony attempted robbery armed with a firearm and four felony counts of aggravated assault with the discharge of a firearm.