No Bail For 18-Year-Old Charged In Skokie Armed Carjacking

SKOKIE, IL — A judge ordered one of the two teens accused of carjacking a couple at gunpoint Sunday in the Old Orchard shopping center parking lot held without bail at Cook County Jail.

Omarion Franklin, 18, a resident of Chicago's Cragin neighborhood, was charged with one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking and one count of armed robbery with a firearm, both class X felonies, authorities said.

Around 6:30 p.m., Franklin and a younger co-defendant walked up to a two men as they sat in the second level of the Nordstrom parking structure in a gray 2007 Infiniti sedan, checking their phones about an upcoming trip, according to prosecutors.

Franklin pointed a gun at the driver's head, and his juvenile co-defendant pointed a gun at the passenger, prosecutors said at a bond hearing Wednesday.

They each racked the slides on the handguns, ordering both men out of the car, prosecutors said. The passenger handed over his keys and iPhone to the boy, who demanded the code to phone.

Franklin got behind the wheel and his juvenile co-defendant got into the passenger seat, according to prosecutors.

But instead of driving away, they first drove to higher levels of the parking garage before leaving.

Prosecutors said the two men who'd just been robbed ran down to the ground floor of the garage, a woman called 911 and a mall security guard called police, who arrived to take a report and get a description of the carjackers.

The Inifiniti was soon spotted headed to Chicago on the Edens Expressway by a Skokie police officer, authorities said. The fleeing car accelerated to 98 mph, making several lane changes before exiting at Irving Park Road.

The chase continued through Chicago streets. The Infiniti drove over sidewalks, a grass median and through a red light before crashing into a parked car in the 4100 block of West Byron Street, prosecutors said.

Franklin's juvenile co-defendant was found hiding in a nearby yard and taken into custody, while Franklin was seen fleeing in clothing matching the description given by the carjacking victims. Prosecutors said one of the victims identified Franklin in a photo lineup.

A SWAT team with Skokie and Chicago police headed over to Franklin's home address to arrest him, according to prosecutors. Officers noticed him walking around the area, and when they tried to arrest him he fled into a building in the 2100 block of North Lavergne Avenue.

After barricading himself with a gun, he turned himself in to the SWAT team around 11 p.m. and was turned over the custody of Skokie police.

Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese was told Franklin had been previously found guilty of a robbery in Lake County juvenile court. He ordered Franklin jailed until a bond review hearing set for Wednesday.

Police said Franklin's juvenile co-defendant, also a Chicago resident, was referred to juvenile court on charges of armed robbery and vehicular hijacking.

Earlier: Old Orchard Carjacking Leads To Chase, Crash, SWAT Standoff: Cops