Earlier today, a ten-year federal prison sentence was handed down to a suburban Chicago man for a carjacking that took place in Posen, Illinois. The crime, which occurred at a Thorntons gas station on July 27, 2022, and involved a loaded handgun equipped with an illegal modification, was a harrowing experience for a woman and her two children who were in the car at the time.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) statement, the woman was getting into the driver's seat of her Kia Optima at the gas station when Kewan Tillman, 20, approached her. He brandished a loaded handgun and demanded she turned over her keys. Thankfully, she managed to get her children out of the vehicle before Tillman drove off with it. The ordeal continued as Tillman lost control of the car, tried to force entry into an occupied semi-truck, and then attempted to hijack another vehicle before finally being apprehended by Posen Police officers.
The officers found the gun Tillman used discarded in a sewer. It was equipped with a so-called "Glock switch," or "auto sear," rendering it capable of firing only in fully automatic mode at the time of the carjacking.
As the DOJ statement indicates, Tillman arrived at the gas station in a stolen Kia Soul. During the court proceedings, he pled guilty to federal carjacking and firearm charges, and U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo imposed his sentence today.
