A late night trip for pizza turned into the scare of a lifetime for a group of local children when armed carjackers attempted to steal the car they were in. NBC 5’s Chris Coffey spoke to one of the teens about the harrowing ordeal.
A 16-year-old girl brazenly fought off a carjacking suspect who stole the vehicle she and her two younger siblings were in in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood.
Imama Muratab’s father left the teen, along with her 9-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister, inside their Toyota Highlander around 11 p.m. Sunday while he ran into a restaurant in the 3100 block of West Devon Street to grab a pizza.
Two people drove up in a Toyota Camry, and one of them exited and went over to the family’s SUV, according to Chicago police.
Muratab was about to fall asleep when the suspect, who she says looked to be around 17 years old, got inside the vehicle.
“He goes, ‘you get out of the car, or I’m going to shoot you,’” the high school sophomore said. “I’m like ‘no, I can’t. There’s a baby in there, and my other sibling is in there, too.’”
Muratab grabbed the suspect’s neck from the backseat and leaned forward to grab her father’s cellphone from the front seat, she said.
She ended up calling 911, and once the suspect realized what she was doing, he suddenly stopped the SUV in the middle of the road and jumped into another vehicle, she said.
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A good Samaritan rushed to help the siblings and moved their vehicle over to the side of the road. Thankfully the siblings weren’t hurt, and they were soon reunited with their father.
“He didn’t harm us, but it was traumatizing that he like drove away with us,” Muratab said. “I felt like I was getting kidnapped.”
Following the incident, police tracked down the Camry, which had been stolen, to a gas station in the 4200 block of North Lawrence Avenue, according to Chicago police. The driver of the vehicle ran away, but four passengers were arrested.
Steffy Lagunas, 19, Ralph Enriquez, 22, Kaily Lagunas, 19, and a 16-year-old boy were each charged with one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to vehicles. It is unclear if they have attorneys.
