Suspects in Lake County drive-by shooting caught after police chase
Two suspects in a drive-by shooting that injured two women in Beach Park were arrested Sunday morning after leading police on a high-speed chase, authorities said.
Canines and drones helped track down the suspects, who have not yet been formally charged, Lake County sheriff’s officials said.
The two women had left a North Chicago bar and were driving home on Green Bay Road about 2 a.m. Sunday when a gray Dodge pulled up alongside their vehicle and its occupants opened fire, according to the sheriff’s office.
One woman was struck in the eye and the other in the leg. Both were taken to area hospitals and are expected to survive, officials said.
Sheriff’s deputies responding to the shooting in the area of Green Bay Road and Bonnie Brook Lane found the women in a badly damaged vehicle in a ditch. One deputy applied a tourniquet to the woman who had been shot in the leg.
Deputies later recovered several spent shell casings in the area, officials said.
About 30 minutes later, a Waukegan police officer spotted a gray Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat matching the description of the shooters’ vehicle and attempted a traffic stop on Sunset Avenue, but the car sped away, authorities said.
A Lake County sheriff’s deputy later spotted the vehicle southbound on Route 41 near Route 173 at approximately 2:41 a.m. The deputy tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver again sped away.
Deputies continued to pursue the vehicle as it made a U-turn at Stearns School Road and continued northbound on Route 41 and then eastbound on Route 173.
A Zion police officer struck the vehicle with a tire-deflation device on eastbound Route 173, but the vehicle continued to evade capture until it crashed in a heavily wooded area near Route 173 and Joana Avenue in Zion, sheriff’s officials said.
With the assistance of police dogs and drones, officers were able to locate the two male suspects, one of them a juvenile. A rifle and pistol also were recovered from the Dodge, and an additional pistol was found in a backyard near where one of the suspects was captured, authorities said.
Authorities believe the Dodge was stolen from Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, according to the sheriff’s office.