Chicago Parolee Charged In Orland Park, Oak Forest Carjackings

ORLAND PARK-OAK FOREST -- Charges were announced Friday against a Chicago man, who police say took two cars at gunpoint on Oct. 18 2018 and led officers on a wild chase through the south suburbs. Brian McKenzie, 23, is charged with two counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking. McKenzie was ordered held in federal custody.

According to authorities, the first carjacking happened just before noon that day in a restaurant parking lot in the 7800 block of 159th Street in Orland Park. A man and woman had exited their 2016 Dodge Charger when they were approached by a man, now identified as McKenzie, who allegedly brandished a handgun and demanded the woman's purse and the keys to the Dodge.

The suspect fled and later crashed the vehicle into a worker at a construction site near Central Avenue and 159th Street in Oak Forest, according to the federal criminal complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Police said McKenzie fled on foot and used a handgun to carjack a white Mazda. An Oak Forest police officer shot at the suspect as he fled in the second vehicle. During his escape, McKenzie ran over an officer’s leg, the feds said.

Orland Park police released photos of the suspect at the time of reported crimes, who remained at large. McKenzie was identified as the alleged suspect by detectives in late October. He was picked up on a parole warrant in December 2018, police said.

“This is a great example of a cooperative effort between Orland Park detectives, Oak Forest detectives, federal ATF Investigators and the United States Attorney’s Office in investigating and bringing a dangerous criminal off the street” said Commander Tony Farrell, of the Orland Park Police Department.

McKenzie was returned to the Stateville Correctional Center, where he had been serving a three-year sentence stemming from an unlawful use of a firearm by a felon conviction in 2016. According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, McKenzie was paroled on Sept. 18, 2018, a month before the purported carjackings.

McKenzie is set to appear Feb. 4 before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman for a detention hearing. The case was investigated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Orland Park Police Department and the Oak Forest Police Department.

Police dash cam images of a suspect in a pair of armed carjackings on Oct. 18, 2018 in Orland Park and Oak Forest. | Orland Park PD