Woman Shot During Attempted Carjacking

CHICAGO, IL — A 59-year-old woman was shot dead by a would-be carjacker on the West Side Sunday morning, police said. The shooting happened in the 900 block of North Kedvale Avenue in West Humboldt Park, according to police. Police were called to the scene around 7:15 a.m.

The woman was in a vehicle with a 70-year-old man and 70-year-old woman, when an offender went up to the vehicle and pulled a gun on the driver, police said. The suspect tried to steal the vehicle, but the driver accelerated in an attempt to get away, according to police.

The carjacker opened fire on the back of the vehicle, and the 59-year-old woman was shot in the back, police said.

She was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, where she was pronounced dead.

The two other people in the vehicle were taken to Mount Sinai for observation. The elderly couple was taking their friend to drive to a Jehovah's Witnesses convention in Romeoville, according to a report by ABC 7.

The victim has been identified as Mashell Appleton, 59, of the 900 block of North Kedvale, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. Her death has been ruled a homicide, authorities said.

The suspect is described as a 5-foot-4, thin black man in his 20s, wearing a red hoodie.

No one was in custody, and Area North detectives were investigating.

Image by Amber Fisher/Patch