A federal judge sentenced a man to nine years in the federal prison for the carjacking of a driver of a rides under shot outside the Willis Tower in January 2021.
Joshua Walker argued guilty of federal accusations of carjacking and the use of a machine gun during a violent crime, according to the court reports. Judge Mary Rowland of the American district has imposed a two-year prison sentence for the carjacking declaration and a successive seven-year prison sentence for the firearm tax.
The early morning car jacking outside the Willis tower was one of the many violent crimes that Walker and colleague “Beamteam” gang members who would have committed that morning and on other occasions.
The 31-year-old driver of Rideshare was in his car outside the former Sears Tower on 233 South Wacker Drive when a stolen dodge trip stopped. Walker left the SUV, approached the driver’s side, aimed a firearm on the victim and demanded that he left the vehicle and surrendered his phone, said public prosecutors.
The victim indicated and the carjackers fled with his gray Mitsubishi Outlander 2011, followed by the second vehicle. Walker later drove the stolen vehicle to his house and then to a boost -mobile store, where he tried to sell the victim’s phone.
Public prosecutors say that his accomplice in carjacking killed a carjacking victim in Oak Park shortly after the Willis Tower Holdup.
Walker was not present for that crime, but apparently he referred to the murder in a Facebook message shortly after it happened: “Can’t be afraid to take a life … We are already taking risks.”
Federal officials recently informed Judge Rowland that they can pursue the death penalty against the accomplice.
Walker’s violent street team called themselves “Beamteam” because they “often use laser rays at the end of their firearms to not only make violence with rival gangs, but also violence against the community in general, mainly by armed carjackings and armed robberies,” said Federal Officers of Justice.
The Memorandum detailed extra violent crimes that Walker would have committed in May 2019, including armed carjackings and street robberies. Public Prosecutors also connected the Bampteam gang to a series of armed robberies at the Dunkin locations in the city in February 2021.
After one crime, officers of justice said, Walker sent a voice message to another man: “I’m not even going to lie to you, I have been Grabbin people all morning.
