Boy, 15, charged in FedEx truck carjacking in Englewood

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 15-year-old boy was charged Thursday with three felonies in the Wednesday morning carjacking of a FedEx truck on Chicago's South Side.

Police said the teen held a 46-year-old female FedEx driver at gunpoint near West 75th and South Green streets in the city's Englewood neighborhood around 9:15 a.m. and stole her truck.

The suspect was trying to get away from police when he crashed the truck into a chain-link fence near South Wentworth Avenue and West Marquette Road. He was taken into custody and charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravated fleeing.

In a separate incident around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, a 40-year-old FedEx driver was robbed at gunpoint near East 80th Street and South Saginaw Avenue in the city's South Chicago neighborhood. Police said in that case, the thief got away with packages. No one is in custody.

Last Friday, another FedEx driver was carjacked in Chicago's Fuller Park neighborhood.

Andrew Holmes, a city crisis responder, said asked delivery companies to require all trucks to have two-man crews to deter thieves.

"I am pleading with FedEx and UPS. Put some helpers on the trucks. These packages are not worth them losing their life for," Holmes said.

FedEx issued a statement Thursday, which said, "The safety and security of our team members is always our priority. We are grateful that no one was seriously injured in these incidents, and we are working with the authorities in their investigations. FedEx takes any security threat seriously and works closely with local, state and federal authorities in investigations of incidents involving our network and property. While we continually evaluate and implement procedures that enhance our security systems, in order to ensure the integrity of our procedures, we will not disclose specific details about our security program."

In most of these cases, the trucks were found a short distance away, with packages missing. The city believes these cases are copycats, but otherwise not connected.