Pizzeria robbery suspect caught — while allegedly stealing a car

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Jamaine Williams, 32, mugshot, charged with One count of Vehicular Hijacking – Agg Firearm, Two counts of Armed Robbery – Firearm, One count of UUW – Felon Poss / Use Firearm, Two counts of misdemeanor Resisting Arrest - Police Officer, One misdemeanor Criminal Trespass to Vehicle, Fourteen misc. traffic violations, Issuance of Warrant

Updated: February 15, 2012 6:13PM

Jamaine Williams had already been identified as a suspect in a pizzeria robbery in Ukrainian Village, but that didn’t stop the fugitive from allegedly stealing a car — because he was tired of the one he was driving.

Williams, 32, allegedly told authorities he was tired of driving around in a “piece of s---” he got from a “b----” so he stole a motorist’s Jeep Cherokee at gunpoint at a South Side gas station Sunday.

Then, after leading police on a high-speed chase, the convicted felon was arrested with his loaded weapon — the same .40 caliber handgun he used when he and another man robbed Village Pizza earlier this year, assistant state’s attorney Lorraine Scaduto said.

The pizzeria owner, John Gagliardi Sr., had recently installed a surveillance camera at his eatery at 2356 W. Chicago.

The camera captured the 61-year-old Gagliardi getting punched in the head and face as he was being robbed by two men. Gagliardi repeatedly told the men they were on camera but apparently they didn’t seem to care, he said. One was even seen grinning on video.

“He didn’t believe me,” Gagliardi told the Sun-Times at the time. “That’s why I guess he smiled.”

Williams was also seen dropping some of the cash he and his cohort, Kenya Melvin Glenn took before they fled in the maroon car, Scaduto said.

Williams, of the 6400 block of West Wabansia, was on parole for a weapons conviction at the time of the January incident.

Scaduto said Glenn, 23, had been picked up and charged soon after the incident. Glenn was ordered held on $250,000 bail, according to court records.

Gagliardi was out sick Wednesday but his stepson Bryan Cordell, who also works at the pizzeria, said the family was “very happy” to hear that the alleged culprits were caught.

On Sunday, before he was caught, Williams drove up to speeds of 100 miles per hour in the SUV he stole at the gas station, in the 8700 block of South Exchange, Scaduto said.

He eventually hit a squad car and drove on one wheel after blowing out the stolen vehicle’s three other tires, Scaduto said.

Williams eventually ran out of the car and was apprehended at 83rd and State, Scaduto said.

He was Tasered by officers because he was allegedly being uncooperative with police and stiffened his arms, according to a police report.

Judge Ramon Ocasio III ordered Williams held without bond for both crimes Wednesday.

Williams has been charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, misdemeanor resisting arrest, misdemeanor criminal trespass to vehicle and fourteen traffic violations.