Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison for carjacking a vehicle at gunpoint while a woman and her two children were inside.

The carjacking occurred on the afternoon of July 27, 2022, at Thorntons gas station in Posen, Ill. The woman was entering the driver’s seat of her Kia Optima when Kewan Tillman approached, pointed a loaded handgun at her, and demanded the key. The victim was able to get the two children out of the vehicle before Tillman stole the car and drove off. Tillman quickly lost control of the vehicle, got out, and ran back toward the gas station, where he unsuccessfully attempted to force entry into an occupied semi-truck. Tillman then placed the handgun in a sewer and tried to force his way into another vehicle that was parked at a gas pump. After a physical altercation with the driver of that vehicle, Posen Police officers arrested Tillman.

The officers discovered the handgun in the sewer. The gun was equipped with a “Glock switch,” also known as an “auto sear,” and at the time was only capable of firing in fully automatic mode.

Tillman had arrived at the gas station in a Kia Soul that had been reported stolen in Chicago.

Tillman, 20, of Calumet City, Ill., pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal carjacking and firearm charges. U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo imposed the sentence Friday after a hearing in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Substantial assistance was provided by the Posen Police Department. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Walgamuth.

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