CAR JACKING UPDATE | Woman Shot at Wendy's, Aurora Police Investigating, Victim's Hyundai Missing

WOMAN REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION, SUSPECTS NOT YET IN CUSTODY

Aurora Police are investigating an armed carjacking that left a woman shot and in critical condition on the city’s west side on Saturday.

At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Aurora Police’s 911 Telecommunications Center received numerous calls for reports of a shooting and a carjacking in the Wendy’s parking lot in the 1200 block of North Orchard Road. When officers arrived, they found a woman on the ground in the parking lot suffering from injuries. Aurora Fire Department paramedics arrived on the scene and immediately transported the woman to an Aurora area hospital.

Officers began interviewing potential witnesses and learned the woman was sitting in her car eating a meal while she was parked in the Wendy’s parking lot when at least two male black suspects pulled up in a black Ford Escape, surrounded her vehicle, forcibly pulled her out of her vehicle, shot her in the back and then stole her vehicle. The woman remains in critical condition but is expected to survive. The woman was transferred to a Chicago area trauma center for further treatment. A black Ford Escape was also found in the parking lot and officers learned it had been stolen in another carjacking in DeKalb County less than an hour earlier.

Aurora Police is currently searching for the woman’s vehicle, which is described as a Red 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe with an Illinois License Plate of AE89203. If the vehicle is spotted, please call 9-1-1 immediately.

Officers on the scene immediately broadcasted a statewide message over the Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network (ISPERN) for officers across the region to be on the lookout for the victim’s vehicle taken form the scene.

Detectives from the Aurora Police Department’s Bureau of Investigations responded to the scene and began investigating the specific circumstances of the incident. Evidence Technicians also responded to the scene to identify and collect forensic evidence from the shooting. Officers and detectives conducted a canvass of the area to collect potential information from additional witnesses to assist with the investigation.

Aurora Police detectives contacted the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and learned that just prior to the carjacking of the Ford Escape in DeKalb County, the offenders had been involved in a crash also involving two other stolen vehicles. Officers in DeKalb County had briefly pursued the vehicle, but ultimately terminated it for safety reasons.

Aurora Police is currently searching for the woman’s vehicle, which is described as a Red 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe with an Illinois License Plate of AE89203. If the vehicle is spotted, please call 9-1-1 immediately.

This remains an on-going investigation. If you have any information, please call the Aurora Police Department’s Investigations Division at (630) 256-5500. You can also call the Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at (630) 892-1000 to report information regarding the incident anonymously.

From January 1st, 2020 to January 17th, 2021, Aurora Police has only taken one other report for an aggravated vehicular hijacking. That incident occurred in late November after suspects had stolen a spare set of keys from a home during a burglary. The suspects returned a few weeks later and stole the vehicle from the driveway. The owner of the vehicle attempted to intervene and sustained cuts to his hand from the incident. The stolen vehicle was recovered less than 10 minutes later after it was involved in a hit-and-run roll-over accident. The suspects fled the scene of the accident and only another parked vehicle sustained damage. That case also remains under investigation.