A 63-year-old Naperville man has been arrested in connection with two separate attempted armed carjackings over the past week.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin, Naperville Chief of Police Jason Arres and Warrenville Chief of Police Sam Bonilla announced today that Judge Joshua Dieden has granted the State’s motion to detain a Naperville man charged with two counts of Armed Violence (a Class X Felony); one count of Attempted Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking with a Firearm (a Class 1 Felony); and two counts of Aggravated Battery (a Class 3 Felony) for an incident that occurred in Naperville and one count of Aggravated Kidnapping While Armed with a Firearm (a Class X Felony); one count of Armed Robbery with a Firearm (a Class X Felony); one count of Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking with a Firearm (a Class X Felony); and one count of Aggravated Unlawful Restraint (a Class 3 Felony) for a similar incident that occurred in Warrenville.
According to police, on Monday at approximately 2:07pm, Naperville police officers responded to a 911 call at the BP gas station at 1983 Brookdale Drive regarding a male attacking a female with a weapon. While en route, an officer observed a male matching the description of the alleged offender, later identified as the suspect, walking towards a subdivision. The officer ordered him to stop but he continued walking. Officers then detained Banks in the 1500 block of Westminster.
Officers learned from the victim that she was sitting in her vehicle parked at the BP gas station watching a TikTok video on her cell phone when the suspect, wearing a black knit hat, black sweatshirt, black pants, and a face mask, allegedly walked past her vehicle. Police say that several minutes later, the suspect, armed with a black handgun, approached the driver’s side door of the victim’s car, opened the door and struck the victim approximately five times on her head, after which he pointed the gun at the woman and told her “get out b****.” The victim screamed and the suspect fled the area on foot.
Upon arrest, the suspect was in possession of a blue plastic bag containing a black and tan coiled rope and a purple coiled rope with Gorilla duct tape and gloves. When retracing the suspect’s steps, officers located a loaded 9mm Taurus handgun in the bushes as well as a knife on the sidewalk on Brookdale Road.
Through the course of their investigation, detectives learned of an aggravated vehicular hijacking that occurred in the 27700 block of Diehl Road in Warrenville the previous Wednesday. In this incident, police say that at approximately 9:20am, the female victim was sitting in her vehicle eating a snack while on break from work when an individual, later identified as the suspect, approached her vehicle, opened her driver’s side door, took her phone out of her hand and pointed a small black pistol at her head. The suspect was holding a blue plastic bag and told the victim “If you say anything I will kill you.” He then entered the woman’s car and at gunpoint ordered her to drive to Bond Street where he ordered her out of the vehicle. Detectives with the Warrenville Police Department subsequently found the victim’s vehicle in the parking lot parked in a different parking space from where it was initially taken.
“Judge Dieden’s decision to deny pre-trial release for [the suspect[ sends a strong message that in DuPage County, we will not stand for violent criminal activity, as alleged in these cases,” Berlin said. “The allegations, that [the suspect] kidnapped and carjacked a woman at gunpoint and five days later pistol-whipped and attempted to carjack a second woman at gunpoint, have no place in civilized society and will be met with the full force of the law. This type of brazen behavior, effects not just the involved victims, but also casts a shadow of fear across the entire community. Our residents and law enforcement, however, will not bend to such attacks on our safety.”
