Pizzeria Robbery Suspect Caught While Allegedly Stealing Car
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Jamaine Williams had already been identified as a suspect in a pizzeria robbery in Ukrainian Village, but that didn't stop the fugitive from allegedly stealing a car — because he was tired of the one he was driving.
Williams, 32, allegedly told authorities he was tired of driving around in a "piece of s---" he got from a "b----" so he stole a motorist's Jeep Cherokee at gunpoint at a South Side gas station Sunday.
Then, after leading police on a high-speed chase, the convicted felon was arrested with his loaded weapon — the same .40 caliber handgun he used when he and another man robbed Village Pizza earlier this year, assistant state's attorney Lorraine Scaduto said.
The pizzeria owner, John Gagliardi Sr., had recently installed a surveillance camera at his eatery at 2356 W. Chicago Av.
The camera captured the 61-year-old Gagliardi getting punched in the head and face as he was being robbed by two men. Gagliardi repeatedly told the men they were on camera but apparently they didn't seem to care, he said. One was even seen grinning on video.
"He didn't believe me," Gagliardi told the Sun-Times at the time. "That's why I guess he smiled."
Williams was also seen dropping some of the cash he and his cohort took before they fled in the maroon car, Scaduto said.
Williams, of the 6400 block of West Wabansia, was on parole for a weapons conviction at the time of the January incident.
Williams' co-offender, Kenya Melvin Glenn, 23, of the 5200 block of South Peoria was ordered held on $250,000 bond on Jan. 21 after being charged with one count each of armed robbery and aggravated unlawful restraint in connection with the pizzeria robbery.
Gagliardi was out sick Wednesday but his stepson Bryan Cordell, who also works at the pizzeria, said the family was "very happy" to hear that the alleged culprits were caught.
On Sunday, before he was caught, Williams drove up to speeds of 100 miles per hour in the SUV he stole at the gas station, in the 8700 block of South Exchange, Scaduto said.
He eventually hit a squad car and drove on one wheel after blowing out the stolen vehicle's three other tires, Scaduto said.
Williams eventually ran out of the car and was apprehended at 83rd and State, Scaduto said.
He was Tasered by officers because he was allegedly being uncooperative with police and stiffened his arms, according to a police report.
Judge Ramon Ocasio III ordered Williams held without bond for both crimes Wednesday.
Williams has been charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, misdemeanor resisting arrest, misdemeanor criminal trespass to vehicle and fourteen traffic violations.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
