9 CPD officers honored for arresting Beverly robbery, carjacking suspects

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The officers involved in tracking down the suspects in a brazen Beverly attack were praised for their work Thursday.

A carjacking happened last month, as a mother and daughter returned home from volleyball practice, and had just pulled into their driveway.

Nine police officers were honored Thursday morning.

They came with their families, proud of their accomplishments.

They're part of a task force to catch carjackers.

The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation held a ceremony to recognize nine members of the Chicago Police Department as "December Officer of the Month" recipients.

The recipients are all members of the "citywide vehicular highjacking task force," who investigated a robbery and carjacking that got a lot of media attention last month when several people were charged.

"We just thank them here at the foundation for doing the work to keep us safe, and we want them to know that they will always be supported," said Sandra Wortham, president of the Police Memorial Foundation.

SEE MORE: 2 charged in armed carjacking outside Beverly home, Chicago police say

Back on Nov. 2, a husband and wife were in their backyard in the Beverly neighborhood, when two people violently robbed them at gunpoint, then took their Audi.

The disturbing attack was all captured on the family's Ring camera.

While the attackers got away, the task force members were ultimately able to identify and arrest the alleged suspects.

"Every case that we investigate we put everything into, and, this one, it was a great investigation by the guys. And everything kind of fell into place," award recipient Sgt. Peter Amelio said.

According to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, the task force members honored Thursday tediously tracked purchases made with the victim's credit cards.

They canvassed for video, and they ultimately identified another vehicle that was being used by the alleged crew of suspects.

On Nov. 14, the alleged carjackers were placed into custody, and charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and robbery.

"These individuals would not be in custody if the people of the 19th Ward in that area did not come forward, send video, give us tips, tell us who they saw going through the neighborhood. That was imperative in this investigation, paired with that and the video from the crime scene, the gas station, utilizing credit cards, put this whole investigation together," said detective Louis Silva, also an award recipient.

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