Dive team scours Des Plaines River for gun

A dive team helped North Chicago police search for a firearm in the Des Plaines River near Route 176 for much of Wednesday afternoon but came up empty, officials said.

North Chicago police requested the help of the Libertyville fire department’s dive team in locating the weapon, which police said was used in a nonfatal shooting last week.

Fire department officials said the suspect was in custody, but police want to analyze the weapon to see if it was involved in any other shootings.

“The person that threw the gun in there was with the police department,” said Libertyville assistant Fire Chief Mike Cloe. “He pointed out where it was.”

A dive team used sonar scanners to search the area just south of the Route 176 bridge, but the river bottom was filled with sticks and rocks making the search difficult, officials said.

Teams searched from about 1 p.m. until dusk, and plan to search the area again Thursday for a few more hours, Cloe said.

“The person swears it’s in there,” Cloe said.