A Chicago police sergeant was charged with the reckless discharge of a firearm Sunday after allegedly shooting at car thieves in a crowded Sam’s Club parking lot.

       Cook County prosecutors said Oneta Sampson Carney, 58, who was off-duty at the time, was loading groceries with her husband into her 2016 Toyota 4Runner at Sam’s Club in Evergreen Park, 9400 S. Western Ave., about 6:45 p.m. Saturday. She was accused of firing at least one shot at her vehicle after three people used a ruse to steal the SUV.

       Carney appeared in court Sunday before Judge Arthur Willis, who set bail at $5,000, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Carney is being represented by the Illinois Police Benevolent and Protective Association.

       Prosecutors said three men approached the SUV as it sat idling near the store’s entrance. Two men approached the back of the vehicle and offered to help Carney and her husband with their groceries while the third man got in the car and began driving away.

       The other two men ran away as the car sped down the parking lot aisle with Carney and her husband in pursuit. The man driving stopped the SUV as one of the other two men ran toward the vehicle, according to prosecutors.

       As the vehicle began moving again, Carney allegedly fired her 9 mm handgun once, hitting the ground behind the 4Runner. The bullet did not hit the vehicle and no one was injured, prosecutors said. All three men escaped. At no point during the theft did any of the three men threaten Carney or her husband or display a weapon, officials said.

       When Carney fired her handgun, another vehicle was driving down the same aisle in the opposite direction toward Carney, officials alleged. There were also pedestrians, including children, nearby in the parking lot, prosecutors said.

       Carney called police after the altercation but did not immediately report she had fired a shot, according to prosecutors.

       Carney’s full name does not appear in an online salary database for Chicago police, but there’s a record for Oneta Sampson, a police sergeant who’s paid an annual salary of $118,998.

       sygoodman@chicagotribune.com

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