NEAR WEST SIDE — A Jeep Grand Cherokee stolen at gunpoint from a 33-year-old woman in Avondale on Friday was recovered on Monday after three people riding in the car crashed it on the Near West Side.
Officer Christine Calace, a Chicago Police spokeswoman, said that around 8:45 p.m. on Monday, Near West Police found the woman's car after three men riding in it crashed it in the 400 block of South Racine Avenue, across the street from the entrance to the CTA's Racine Blue Line station.
Calace said that the three men fled after the crash, running to the CTA Blue Line. They were arrested on the L platform.
Three "people of interest" were taken in for questioning and two of the three people were charged in the incident — receiving misdemeanors for trespassing, Calace said.
Thomas Wilson, 22, of the 100 block of North Hermitage Avenue. and Carl Cruz, 24, of the 7900 block of South Clyde Avenue, were each charged with one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to vehicle.
Felony charges for vehicular hijacking were not approved; subsequently, Wilson and Cruz were charged with the misdemeanor charge, Calace said.
The black 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee was stolen at 1:17 a.m. Friday in the 2800 block of North Campbell, according to police.
The driver was in her Jeep when another car pulled up and two men got out, took out a handgun and demanded her car, police said. The men pressed the gun into her body before the woman complied and got out of the car, according to police.
The men got away with the car, in addition to the personal belongings inside, including the woman's credit cards, computer and cellphone, police said.
The woman didn't suffer from any injuries.
The carjacking was one of nine Avondale and Logan Square area armed robberies that sparked a community alert.
