A carjacking in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood early Thursday morning ended with several suspects driving away in the victim's Toyota Camry, leaving behind one of their accomplices who was injured when their intended victim fought back.

According to CBS Chicago, the 47-year-old victim was in his car about 5:30 this morning when four men walked up to his Camry and demanded his keys before spraying him with what the TV station describes as a "chemical agent."

The victim, who has a valid FOID and CCL holder, then fired his gun.

One of the offenders, a 16-year-old boy, was hit in his left knee and suffered a graze wound to the left arm. He was taken to Christ Hospital in fair condition.

The victim, meanwhile, was treated for the chemical agent on scene, but didn't suffer more serious injuries. 

While carjackings and motor vehicle thefts reportedly declined in Chicago by about 26% in the first four months of this year, the 7,390 motor vehicle thefts and carjackings reported between January 1 and April 30 is still far higher than it was just a couple of years ago. Arrests, meanwhile, are few and far between, with Chicago police charging suspects just 3.34% of the time in the first four months of 2024. 

Many of those who have been caught are juveniles. CBS News reported last year that, nationally, the percentage of juveniles charged with carjacking offenses has grown from 18% in 2016 to 41% in 2021, the last year for which statistics were available. 

While we don't have any specific numbers for Chicago, juvenile carjackers aren't uncommon. Earlier this week, in fact, another 16-year-old was taken into custody and charged with four felonies after an attempted carjacking on the city's south side. 

The charges stem from an incident that occurred around 9:47 p.m. on Tuesday, when the teen, along with accomplices, allegedly robbed two victims—a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old man—at gunpoint before attempting to steal their vehicle in the 2100 block of South Princeton.

Officers responded quickly and located the teen less than 30 minutes after the incident. He was taken into custody at that time.

Chicago police also arrested a pair of teens in a gunpoint carjacking earlier this month; one of them just 13-years-old, while his 18-year-old alleged accomplice already has two other carjacking cases pending in juvenile court. 

Prosecutors said the 13-year-old displayed a gun as he and Keondre Pitts, 18, robbed a man in the 700 block of West Division around 2:45 a.m. on October 9. They proceeded to drive away with the victim’s 2024 Honda Civic, an Illinois State Police report said. 

About 30 minutes later, the Chicago Police Department’s hijacking task force broadcast the Civic’s license plate and location. It wasn’t long before two state troopers spotted the hijacked vehicle at a red light near Lafayette and 95th Street.

According to the report, the troopers followed the car, which sped away and entered the wrong lane of traffic on 95th Street. Moments later, Pitts and the 13-year-old bailed out of the car and tried to run away, officials said. The state police report said the 13-year-old threw a loaded 9-millimeter handgun as he ran from the troopers. It was recovered.

There's a good chance that the 13-year-old suspect has already been cut loose by the juvenile justice system and sent home to his parents or guardians, perhaps with an electronic monitoring device. Pitts was finally ordered to remain behind bars given the active cases against him in juvenile court, but judges can revise their orders at any time, and he too could be released at any time with a stern warning to show up in court for his next hearing. 

Illinois Democrats keep taking aim at the state's legal gun owners while giving criminals a pass, but with the staggering number of carjackings and other violent crimes in the Windy City, it's no surprise that more residents are embracing their right to keep and bear arms. Owning and carrying a gun isn't a guarantee that you'll be safe from harm, but at the very least it may give you a chance to fight back when your life is threatened. In this morning's carjacking, the armed citizen may very well have saved his life from a group of teens willing to commit murder so they could steal a Camry.