"This is disheartening to me that something like this could take place with such casualness," said Loyola University Chicago professor of criminology Arthur Lurigio.

Three boys were charged in connection with an armed carjacking Monday afternoon in Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood.

Derrick Weathers, 53, and Lemar Hollingsworth, 21, were both charged with theft, and Weathers also faced a felony drug charge, Chicago police said.

Two people were seen carrying a box that appeared to contain a TV and placing it in a waiting sport-utility vehicle parked nearby.

It was a scene that unfolded live on television as dozens of people rushed a railyard in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, stealing items from a parked freight train.