Police search for driver after stolen vehicle found in Evanston

Police are searching for a male who ran away after he was spotted driving a stolen vehicle Wednesday night in north suburban Evanston.

Officers stopped a vehicle about 9 p.m. in a Jewel Foods parking lot in the 2400 block of West Howard Street and when the officers exited their squad car, the vehicle sped to the rear of a Target store nearby, according to a statement from Evanston police.

The male driver and female passenger in the vehicle ran away behind the Target, police said. The vehicle was reported stolen out of Robbins and officers learned there was a firearm inside the vehicle at the time of the theft.

The passenger, a 19-year-old woman from Chicago, was later found hiding in the bushes near the vehicle, police said. But, despite disrupting service to the Yellow line and assistance from the Evanston Police K-9 Unit and the Chicago Police helicopter, the male driver was never found. The firearm was also not located.

The woman was released after the owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, police said, adding that officers “have significant information on the identity of the driver that fled.”

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Evanston Police Department at (847) 866-5000 or by using Text-A-Tip at CRIMES (274637) and entering EPDTIP in the message line with the tip information.