3 men in heist gang charged with New Lenox carjacking

New Lennox — Three men have been charged with the New Lenox carjacking of a woman’s vehicle they tried to steal while it was occupied by children. The two children were saved before the SUV was taken, police said.

The three men are suspected of being part of a gang of six responsible for burglaries at car dealerships in Schaumburg, Springfield, Lincoln, Bloomington, Peoria and Manchester, Missouri, according to a statement from the New Lenox Police Department.

Prosecutors in Will County have charged Elijah Castle, 22, of Chicago Heights, Devante Davis, 27, and Narquis Thomas, 21, both of Chicago, in a carjacking that took place March 10 in New Lenox.

Castle is at the Pinckneyville state prison, while Thomas is at the Cook County jail. Davis has yet to be arrested, police said.

A juvenile has been identified as one of the six carjacking suspects and charges are pending in Will County, police said.

The night before the March 10 carjacking incident in New Lenox, Castle, Davis, Thomas and three others stole several cars from multiple dealerships and drove them on Interstate 80 in Grundy County, police said.

Deputies there tried to stop the suspects using spike strips, which disabled all the cars except for one BMW, police said.

The suspects used the BMW to continue traveling on I-80 when the vehicle lost one of its wheels, police said. They abandoned the BMW in a ditch along the highway and ran into a New Lenox neighborhood.

When the suspects entered the neighborhood, they approached a woman who was removing two children from a GMC Denali in the driveway of a home day care, according to police and prosecutors. One of the suspects pointed a gun at her and demanded the keys.

A Ford Escape pulled up to the driveway and the suspects attempted to steal that vehicle as well, but the woman driving escaped by driving away, according to police and prosecutors.

All six suspects entered the GMC Denali and fled the scene, police said. The woman was able to remove the two children from the vehicle before them.

About 20 minutes after the incident, the stolen GMC Denali was found abandoned in the parking lot of Markham Lutheran Church in Markham, police said.

The six suspects were seen on video leaving the vehicle, police said.

Castle, Davis and Thomas face charges of aggravated vehicular hijacking, armed violence, armed robbery, aggravated unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, vehicular hijacking, attempt vehicular hijacking, attempt armed robbery and attempt aggravated vehicular hijacking.