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Arrest warrants issued for suspect in string of Cicero carjackings

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cicero police have secured arrest warrants for a 33-year-old Chicago man accused in a string of carjackings, including one targeting a grandmother and her grandson as they were unloading boxes at her alley garage.

Three arrest warrants have been issued for Ricki Taylor, who is suspected in one attempted carjacking and three armed carjackings, according to Cicero town spokesman Ray Hanania.

Police identified Taylor through surveillance video from a carjacking on Saturday, when he is accused of pointing a gun at a woman's grandson as the two were emptying a truck at the alley garage of their Cicero home near 50th & Ogden.

It was something the grandmother has done plenty of times before.

"We were unloading some boxes," she said.

Now, terrified to show her face, it'll be a while before she ever does it again.

"Scared to go outside. It's just, it's scary now," she said.

Surveillance video shows a guy walking by the woman around noon on Saturday. He passed as she and her teenage grandson were emptying the truck at their garage.

"He said 'hello,' and I said 'hello,' and then I started closing … picking up the liftgate from my truck, because I don't know, I just had this bad feeling," she said.

Behind him, another woman walked up as the man then turned back and stepped toward her grandson.

"And all I could see was him pointing a gun at my grandson and his chest," the grandmother said. "I grabbed my grandson, and I told him, 'Just leave him! Leave him! Get away from him.' My sight was directly on the gun."

The carjackers appeared very calm.

"Yes, they were very calm. I think they've done this before," the grandmother said.

Video shows the man and woman who approached this grandmother and her grandson get in the vehicle and speed away.

The grandmother said police called her son, who owns the truck, and told him it was found hours later. Officers found the truck crashed.

"I'm just glad everything was okay, and nothing happened to my grandson. They didn't do anything to him," the grandmother said.

She said her 17-year-old grandson – a high schooler – is taking it better than she is.

Now a home of 30 years feels anything but, after terror visited for no more than a minute.

"I don't know, it's just never happened to me.  You know, you never know. It's never happened to me. When it happens to you, you're just in shock. Honestly, I'm still in shock."

Taylor is wanted in two other armed carjackings and one attempted carjacking since Feb. 16.

Police said, on Feb. 16, Taylor was unarmed when he tried to carjack someone at the Fuller's Car Wash at 2912 S. Cicero Av.

On Feb. 27, also at Fuller's Carwash, he took a driver's vehicle at gunpoint. On March 4, he carjacked someone in the parking lot of the Walgreens at 4100 W. Cermak Rd.

"We are cautioning the public about this suspect and serial carjacker," said Cicero Police Chief Jerry Chlada Jr. "He is armed and dangerous. We urge the public if they have any information on Ricki Taylor concerning his whereabouts to contact the Cicero Police at 708-652-2130."

Tipsters can remain anonymous.

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