Police: Suspect shot brother before carjacking spree across Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A suspect shot his brother before going on a crime spree across Chicago, including a series of carjackings and attempted carjackings on the West Side and the Gold Coast Thursday.

The suspect is currently in custody. Police said he shot his 23-year-old brother in the chest and arm at about 5 p.m. in the 5500-block of West Adams Street and then ran from the scene, police said. The wounded man was in stable condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.

The suspect then ran to the 5200-block of West Jackson Boulevard and carjacked a red Jeep at gunpoint, police said. He then crashed the Jeep in the 1100-block of North Milwaukee Avenue and carjacked a silver Jaguar, police said.

Police said the suspect then crashed the Jaguar into several parked cars in the 800-block of North Halsted Street but continued on before crashing in the 500-block of West Chicago Avenue.

The suspect then got out and carjacked an undercover Chicago police officer in an unmarked car in the 600-block of West Chicago Avenue at about 5:30 p.m.

He took off in that car and then went to Rush and Oak Street where he tried to carjack a man in a Nissan, police said. That man didn't cooperate, so he shot him in the arm.

"I heard the gunshot go off. And I'm like, 'Oh my god, is my face okay?' I was waiting for, to start feeling pain somewhere," the victim recalled.

The victim, a 37-year-old man who did not wish to be identified, said he was on his way home from work at the time.

"I heard a knock on the window," he said. "And then I saw the gun. He said, 'Get out of the car.' A second or two went by, and then he pulled the trigger. And he ran off."

The suspect then carjacked another vehicle, this time, a dark-colored Jeep, ditching it in the 1400-block of Inner Lake Shore Drive, police said.

But he didn't stop there, instead trying unsuccessfully to snatch a Mercedes, shooting the 84-year-olddriver in the arm in the 1400-block of Inner Lake Shore Drive., police said.

The driver's wife, Michelle Klarchek, says he is going to be OK and if he hadn't ducked, he would have been shot in the head.

"I called him and he said he's still at Northwestern and everything is fine and he didn't want to worry me, but he said he was grazed by a bullet and that it could have been a lot worse," she said.

After wounding Klarchek's husband, the suspect tried to carjack more vehicles according to police before running into a nearby condo building where officers arrested him. Police say they recovered a semi-automatic pistol he was carrying.

The driver of the Nissan wounded in the arm is expected to be OK.

The alleged carjacker is in police custody Friday morning and is being questioned by detectives. Police said he has a history of arrests. So far no charges have been filed against the suspect.

A motive remains unclear, but the suspect's mother told the Chicago Tribune that her son accidentally shot his brother while showing him a gun. She believes he became panicked, and the result was that crime spree.