Carjackings are up, in the latest bleak development of 2020

Surveillance camera footage of the firefight between three carjackers and retired Chicago fire Lt. Dwain Williams earlier this month.

To the long list of ways in which 2020 was a terrible year, we can add another: In U.S. cities, violent carjackings are up. Way up.

In Minneapolis, the Star-Tribune newspaper reports that carjackings were up 537% in November; there were 125 instances of the crime in October-November.

In Chicago, carjackings have more than doubled, a trend punctuated by the December death of retired Chicago fire Lt. Dwain Williams, shot by three armed carjackers after pulling his own handgun and engaging them in a shootout. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, Chicago police statistics showed there had been more than 1,150 carjackings to date in 2020, compared to 507 in all of 2019. Depending on how the final month adds up, the annual increase could be closer to triple.

New Orleans, Oakland, Milwaukee, Louisville, Nashville and Kansas City all report increases in carjackings, and a look back at the past 60 days of Associated Press coverage turns up cases in Philadelphia, St. Louis and even Wichita. In Wentzville, Mo., a motorist foiled a carjacking by pulling his own weapon.

All of this is accompanied by a rise in car thefts overall, and increased crime in general. The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) reports, "Preliminary data from 223 police agencies across the United States reveal steep increases this year in homicides and aggravated assaults."