AURORA, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man and a juvenile have been charged in connection with a violent carjacking that left a mother of two paralyzed, Aurora authorities announced Thursday.
Kimberly Weibring was eating in her car parked outside a fast-food restaurant on Jan. 16 when at least two people attempted to carjack her SUV. The pair pulled Weibring out of her vehicle, shot her in the back and drove away in her vehicle. She was left lying in the parking lot with a shattered vertebra and a bullet lodged in her spinal cord, officials said.
“This mother, who was minding her own business inside her car, represents all of us who move through the world each day without harming anyone and in a moment’s notice became a victim of a violent crime,” Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman.
Edward James McGee, 26, of Harvey and a 16-year-old boy have been charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated vehicular hijacking, armed violence, and two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle.
McGee is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail in the Kane County jail. The boy, who was 15 at the time of the carjacking, was not named because he is charged as a juvenile. The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office has petitioned the court to have him charged as an adult, according to Aurora police.
A third suspect died in an unrelated incident, and a fourth suspect in the carjacking remains at large, according to officials.
The woman’s vehicle was used in a carjacking in Lansing shortly after being taken in Aurora, officials said. Her vehicle was recovered on Jan. 20 in Harvey with several bullet holes on the inside and outside the vehicle.