'I Was Just Scared For My Life'; Teen Fights Off Carjacker Who Stole Running SUV With Her And Siblings Still Inside
CHICAGO (CBS)-- A 16-year-old girl helped save her little brother and sister from a carjacking Sunday night in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, hitting and yelling at the stranger who stole their car until he got out.
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reported Monday, it was a terrifying trip to get pizza for Imama Muratab and her family.
"I was just scared for my life. I was, like, 'I want to get out of here,'" she said.
Police said, while her father was inside grabbing their order at Domino's near Devon and Kedzie avenues around 11:30 p.m., Imama and her 9-year-old brother and 5-year-old sister were waiting in the family's 2018 Toyota Highlander. The SUV was still running when two people pulled up in a 2011 Toyota Camry, and one of them jumped into the Highlander.
Imama's younger siblings were asleep in the back seat at the time, and Imama was beginning to doze off, when someone hopped behind the wheel. She said she wiped her eyes and realized it wasn't her father.
"The dude just hopped in, and he looks back, and I realize it's not my dad," Imama said. "He's like, 'Get out, or I'm going to shoot you,' and he starts speeding down the road. He's going in, like, a zig-zag pattern."
Imama said she feared for her life, but wasn't about to leave her siblings.
"I was like, 'I can't. There's a baby,'" she said.
She said that's when all three of them started hitting and yelling at the carjacker.
"They woke up, and started helping me to harm him so he would get out of the car," she said.
The carjacker made it only four blocks down the street, thanks to Imama's quick thinking.
"I see my dad's phone. I started calling 911," she said. "Thirty seconds into the call, the dude just jumps out."
The man hopped out of the SUV and got back into the Camry he came in.
CBS 2 obtained exclusive surveillance video of the suspect and his accomplices at the Mobil gas station at Lawrence and Kildare avenues in Albany Park. The video shows the suspect and four other people at the pumps less than an hour after trying to steal the SUV with children still inside.
Moments later, police approached with guns drawn. The driver of the Camry spotted police and made a run for it. He got away, but police arrested two other men and two women. Police believe the Camry was stolen. The four people who were arrested -- 22-year-old Ralphy Enriquez, 19-year-old Kaily Lagunas, 19-year-old Steffy Lagunas, and a 16-year-old boy -- were charged with one misdemeanor count each of criminal trespass to vehicle.
It was all part of a night Imama said she can barely believe.
"I mean, it all feels like a dream," she said.
Imami and her siblings were not injured.
