‘Just shoot him’: Man fights off would-be carjackers in Uptown, Chicago police say
By Maher Kawash
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CHICAGO (WLS) — The man who fought back against would-be carjackers in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood Wednesday night is speaking out after the ordeal.
A 35-year-old man was in an alley near the 5100-block of North Glenwood Avenue about 10:40 p.m., when two male suspects approached him, and one of them pulled out a gun, hitting the man on the head, CPD said.
The other suspect got into the driver’s seat of the man’s vehicle, according to Chicago police.
The man tried to pull the suspect out of the car, while fighting off the suspect with the gun. A female suspect also shot at the vehicle, CPD said.
The three suspects then ran away.
A neighbor said the man was in the process of moving when the incident occurred.
“Heard a commotion, looked out the window, then started hearing screaming, honking and then three gunshots, saw a white car fly down Glenwood,” said William Wellington, who called police when he realized what was going on.
Patrick Stanton, who is moving to Milwaukee Thursday, was packing up his car before the incident. Now, he’s thankful to be alive.
“I was just trying to remain calm the whole time because we are moving to Milwaukee like right now and we needed the car,” he said. “Just kinda try to play it off like the keys are upstairs — I don’t have them, just to delay, delay. This is a very common area, lots of dog walkers.”
As the struggle continued, things started to escalate, while the suspect demanded the keys.
“He clipped me in the back of the head, at the time I just kinda went a little bright and had to pull myself together and remain calm,” Stanton said. “The third person was just shouting, ‘just shoot him, just shoot him,’ and I was like, ‘OK, don’t love that attitude,’ and he actually passed the weapon off to her.”
He said when the female suspect fired those shots, she barely missed her partner, who was hiding behind the car.
“I would not wish that moment on anyone to hear two shots fired towards somebody that you love and not knowing what you’re going to see when you look around your vehicle but thank goodness it was not a worse scenario,” Stanton’s girlfriend Brittany Hines said.
Stanton said he also honked his horn in the hopes he could get his neighbors’ attention.
“It’s very concerning; you hear about this all the time, but it’s different when it’s outside your front door,” Wellington said.
He said he’s lived there at least a year, and what happened is pretty unusual for the area.
No one was in custody Thursday morning, and Area Three detectives are investigating the incident.
The male suspects may have exited a white sedan before approaching the man, CPD said.
Stanton said they looked young and were wearing hoods and a mask.
As the search continues for those suspects, the couple is moving with a new perspective on life.
“We’re making our way up there to like kind of build a life together, and really zooming out; it’s pretty great to just have each other,” Stanton said.
There are surveillance cameras in the area to help with the investigation.
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