Dupage Policy Journal

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced that Mitch Crawford, a former Westmont teen, has been sentenced to twenty years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The sentence comes after Crawford, now 17, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking for an incident that occurred when he was fifteen.

On January 4, 2022, Westmont police responded to a call about a vehicular hijacking at the Suffield Gardens apartment complex. Officers found a woman with a gunshot wound to her leg. She was taken to a hospital and has since recovered. The investigation revealed that as the victim returned home and parked her car, Crawford approached with a gun, shot her in the leg, pulled her from the vehicle by her coat hood, and fled in her car.

The victim's car was later spotted by an Oak Brook police officer on Route 83 near I-88. When officers attempted to stop him, Crawford led them on a high-speed chase before crashing the vehicle on I-290/Mannheim Road. He was arrested at the scene. A loaded P80 polymer gun without a serial number and an extended magazine were found in the vehicle.

Berlin commented on the case: “At just fifteen-years-old, Mitch Crawford shot an innocent woman as she sat in her car outside of her residence.” He added that such violence "triggers fear and a loss of safety" for the community and will not be tolerated.

Crawford's case was moved from Juvenile Court to Adult Court at Berlin's request. He will serve 85% of his sentence before being eligible for parole.