POLICE CHASE OF 4-6 VEHICLES
Police from Peoria were in pursuit of several stolen vehicles around 6:00 a.m. Thursday, March 10, 2022 until around 6:40 a.m. when the vehicles left the Peoria area at speeds around 100 MPH. Next, the vehicles entered Chicagoland from Interstate 80.
In Chicagoland, Illinois State Police at about 7:45 a.m. Thursday, March 10, 2022 were alerted by another police agency that an offender was driving a black BMW with front-end damage the wrong way on Interstate 80. Police had been chasing four to six vehicles from the Peoria area after an attempted burglary and auto theft was interrupted by staff at a BMW dealership in Peoria. A black BMW that was reported stolen out of Peoria was observed headed eastbound in the westbound lanes of I-80 near US 30. The offender was driving the BMW over 90 MPH.
About 8:30 a.m. a second pursuit of a stolen auto was reported when an Illinois State Police trooper was following a black GMC Yukon on I-80 EAST near I-294. The GMC Yukon was reported stolen in an aggravated vehicular hijacking that just occurred, and was occupied by approximately five male black suspects wearing black ski masks. New Lenox police reported five offenders were on foot when they carjacked the black GMC Yukon from a neighborhood just south of the I-355/I-80 interchange. The offenders in the Yukon sped away from police eastbound on I-80 from Kedzie Avenue. The owner/driver of the GMC Yukon was a victim of five male/black offenders who had bailed out of a stolen BMW that crashed or was abandoned on I-80. Police from an unknown agency may have used spike sticks somewhere along I-80 to intercept the suspects in the BMWs when they were fleeing from Peoria to Chicagoland.
More than one of the BMW vehicles were crashed or disabled by stop sticks near the Three Rivers Rest Area near Morris. Offenders fled those vehicles on foot also.
At about 8:50 p.m. the black GMC Yukon was found abandoned at 160th Street and Clifton Park Avenue near the Markham Lutheran Church in Markham.
Peoria is about 160 miles southwest of Chicago.
At about 6:08 a.m. this morning, the drivers of two BMW crossover type vehicles were reported for reckless driving at high speed on westbound Interstate 74 past Knoxville Avenue in Peoria.
Also earlier this morning, staff at a BMW dealership interrupted a burglary with auto thefts at 6:35 a.m. Peoria police responded to a report of the crime in progress at the BMW of Peoria, 1720 West Pioneer Parkway. When police arrived in the area, the offenders were already traveling over 100 MPH on Pioneer Parkway through the city of Peoria.
Initially two vehicles were indicated stolen — a BMW X3 and a BMW X5. Next two more vehicles were reported driven away from the scene.
The initial report during the pursuit was that two BMW vehicles were black, one was brown, and one was dark blue. There may have been up to two additional stolen vehicles involved. At least two vehicles headed north on Route 6, and then north on Route 29. Eventually all four BMW vehicles were discovered northbound on Route 29 on IDOT cameras.
Police also responded to a Shell Station to gather evidence after the suspects were reported their before the burglary and auto thefts at BMW of Peoria.
During the gathering of information for the investigation, one BMW vehicle was identified as a black BMW X5 connected to an auto theft or vehicular hijacking out of Springfield, Illinois. Also, at least one of the BMW vehicles racing through Peoria was believed to be taken from the BMW of Peoria.
Police chased the offenders traveling in at least four BMWs until the offenders reached the area of Route 29 and Route 6. The offenders apparently proceeded north, and took I-39 to I-80 toward Chicagoland about 6:50 a.m.
All suspects were described as male/black subjects wearing face masks.
The lock box for the BMW dealership was found in one of the BMWs after the BMW was located abandoned in Chicagoland.
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