Police are looking for a man driving a white BMW who carjacked a woman and ran her over before abducting her 2-year-old who nearly wandered into a busy street after being abandoned Thursday afternoon near Libertyville, officials said.
The 34-year-old woman had just returned home in the 16000 block of Route 137 in unincorporated Lake County and she pulled into her driveway and brought one of her children inside about 3:35 p.m., according to a statement from the Lake County sheriff’s office.
As she came back out to the SUV to retrieve her other child, a 2-year-old boy, a white, 2000s model BMW with a black bumper and a loud exhaust pulled up behind her 2021 Volkswagen Atlas.
An attacker, who was tall, thin, wearing a gray zip-up hooded sweatshirt, and a light green face mask, exited the passenger side of the BMW and struggled with her, getting behind the wheel of the victim’s Volkswagen as she tried to keep her son safe, the statement said.
The attacker then “battered” the woman, knocking her to the ground — and ran her over with her SUV — with the child still inside — as he and the driver of the BMW fled.
The victim was able to dial 911 and sheriff’s deputies immediately responded and searched the area for her Atlas.
A short time later, a person working at a business in the 2200 block of Lakeside Drive in Waukegan, called 911 to report they just saw two vehicles enter the parking lot, and the driver of one of the cars abandon a small child, the statement said
The drivers of both vehicles then fled and the 911 caller at the business rescued the child from the parking lot before the toddler wandered onto the roadway, according to the statement.
Waukegan police and sheriff’s deputies responded and sheriff’s personnel took child to safety.
The woman remains at an area hospital, where her condition, which is still serious, had stabilized after suffering injuries to her extremities, the statement said.
Sheriff’s deputies located the stolen Volkswagen in a parking lot near Casmir Pulaski Drive and Route 43 and the SUV will be processed for trace evidence, according to the statement.
But sheriff’s detectives are still looking for the BMW, which was stolen in the past week from a car dealership in Waukegan, the statement said.
Anyone who has seen the BMW or has information about this incident should call the Lake County sheriff’s criminal investigations division at 847-377-4000 or contact Lake County CrimeStoppers at: www.lakecountycrimestoppers.org