Westmont Youth Arrested in Carjacking, Shooting: Police

WESTMONT, IL — A 15-year-old Westmont boy has been charged in the carjacking and shooting of a woman outside a local apartment complex, authorities said Thursday.

The woman was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover from her injuries, police said.

Shortly before midnight Tuesday, a 54-year-old woman was returning to her home at Suffield Gardens apartment complex in Westmont and parked her car near her apartment, according to a news release from the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office. When she opened her car door, the boy was standing outside armed with a gun, police said.

The teen ordered the woman to get out of the car and then shot her in the leg, pulling her out of the vehicle by the hood of her coat, the news release said. He then sped away in her car.

Eleven minutes later, an Oak Brook police officer saw the car heading north on Route 83 near Interstate 88. The officer activated his lights and sirens, causing the 15-year-old to speed away, reaching 100 mph, police said. He crashed as he was trying to exit the highway, police said.

The boy was then taken into custody. A loaded P80 polymer gun with no serial number and an extended magazine were found in the car, police said.

“The allegations that this juvenile shot an innocent woman as she sat in her car outside of her residence, dragged her out of the car by the hood of her coat and then fled in her vehicle are outrageous,” State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in the news release. "The type of violent behavior alleged in this case has an adverse effect on the safety and security enjoyed by the entire community and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The youth was charged with aggravated carjacking, aggravated battery with a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and aggravated fleeing and eluding an officer. The state's attorney said he would seek to transfer the juvenile to adult court.