Five suspects of an armed carjacking were arrested Thursday morning after a police chase down Lake Shore Drive that began in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side and ended near the South Side Oakland neighborhood.
At 12:02 a.m., a 47-year-old off-duty Chicago police officer was walking in the 5800 block of North Winthrop Avenue after parking her sports-utility vehicle when five males swarmed her, according to Chicago police.
One of them pointed a handgun at her and demanded her SUV before snatching the keys from her hand, police said. They then sped off in the vehicle. The woman was not injured.
Officers in a nearby area spotted the SUV and began pursuing it, with backup cars soon tagging behind, police said. The chase ended in the 5500 block of South Lake Shore Drive near 40th Street when the suspects ditched the stolen SUV and ran away.
They were soon caught and taken into custody, police said. Both the weapon and SUV were recovered, and charges were pending Thursday.
Police did not say whether the incident was related to recent carjackings in the North Side, but Area North detectives were looking into possible connections among all the armed vehicular thefts in the area this month.
