Gurnee police want help finding gun owner

Gurnee police announced Thursday the recovery of a weapon they say was used in the recent attempted murder of a 60-year-old man in the HeatherRidge subdivision.

Authorities said the man was shot in the head about 3:50 a.m. Aug. 17 when he got into a scuffle with a car burglar in the 900 block of Campbell Drive.

In the announcement, Gurnee police said a .22-caliber handgun believed to be used in incident was recovered in a pond by fire department divers Aug. 17. Police classified the shooting as an attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.

Police said the weapon is a Clerke Technicorp 22LR six-shot revolver. Anyone familiar with the gun's owner is asked to call Gurnee police at (847) 599-7000 or the anonymous Lake County Crime Stoppers line at (847) 662-2222.

After investigating a loud noise that turned out to be a neighbor's car window being broken, police said, the resident saw a man in a black hooded sweatshirt running past his home. He chased the man to the edge of a nearby pond, pushed him in and then fell into the water himself.

Police said the victim rose from the water and heard a loud pop and then something hit him in the back of the head. The wound was identified as a gunshot at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where the 60-year-old man was taken after a HeatherRidge security guard called 911 for help.

The suspect was described 18 to 23 years old, thin and about 5 feet 10 inches tall. In addition to the sweatshirt, he was wearing black pants.