Masked suspects sought after stolen car abandoned in Wheeling

Six people in masks and hooded sweatshirts abandoned a stolen car on a well-traveled Wheeling street Tuesday and fled into a nearby neighborhood, authorities said, prompting a police search of the area.

The excitement began about 4:30 p.m. on Dundee Road east of Buffalo Grove Road.

The occupants of the brown Kia Rio ditched the car in traffic and ran, likely because it had broken down, Wheeling police said. The car was reported stolen Monday night or Tuesday morning out of an apartment complex parking lot on the 4200 block of North Bloomington Avenue in Arlington Heights, police there said.

Officers from Wheeling and Buffalo Grove, and at least one police dog team, tried to find the people who had been in the car but were unsuccessful.

The action was captured by a nearby business' security video system, police said. It also garnered attention from people in the area.

"It was warm day to be wearing all the accoutrements," Wheeling Deputy Police Chief Al Steffen said. "The subjects certainly projected menace and clearly did not want to be identified."

Still, a social media report that described the situation as an attempted violent crime wasn't accurate, Steffen said.

Anyone with information can call Wheeling police investigators at (847) 459-2690 or Arlington Heights police at (847) 368-5300.