An alleged would-be carjacker in Chicago is now in critical condition after being shot by his own victim on the west side of the city.
According to the police, at around 1:30 a.m. on Monday a man was in his car when another man approached and began firing shots, WBBM-TV reported.
However, the 45-year-old driver had a concealed carry license and shot back at the man, hitting him in the chest, WLS-TV reported.
The would-be carjacker was taken to Loyola Hospital and is in critical condition.
His gun was found at the scene of the incident.
The victim, on the other hand, was not injured.
The police are investigating the whole situation as an attempted carjacking.
This particular incident comes in the midst of Chicago’s continual struggle with crime.
Last year was one of the deadliest years on record for the city.
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According to the police, there were 797 homicides in 2021 in Chicago, the Associated Press reported.
There were also 3,561 shooting incidents, which was 300 higher than the number of incidents recorded in 2020 and 1,415 more than 2019.
The crimes in Chicago have also been happening in popular places, which has scared many away from visiting the city.
“Such events as the chaos downtown that led to a deadly shooting right in the middle of Millennium Park have led people to cancel trips, meetings and events in Chicago because they don’t feel safe,” WBBM-TV reported in May.
Throughout the spring and summer of this year, Chicago has continued to see plenty of deadly shootings, theft and carjackings throughout the city.
Earlier in the spring, Chicago police data showed that burglaries were up 36 percent, while thefts were up by 70 percent and motor vehicle thefts had increased 43 percent from the year before.
Carjackings in particular have been plaguing the city and have the city’s police blaming the youth of Chicago, NPR reported.
Police have found that the average age of carjackers is 15 to 25 years old, WFLD reported.
“There’s only 20 percent of the cases where the individuals are being arrested. So you don’t know who that other 80 percent is, in that 20 percent there’s a disproportionate number of juveniles involved in it,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said, according to WFLD.
But despite Chicago’s high crime rates, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said that the city is making progress fighting crime.
“Our data-driven strategy recognizes that that’s where we need to put the lion’s share of our investments, our time, our education, our outreach,” she said at the beginning of August, WLS-TV reported.
“The biggest challenge I think that we face is we’ve got to make sure that these young people put down the guns, and we’ve got to make more progress on carjackings,” she added.
