2 arrested after armed carjacking in NW Indiana leads to chase

MUNSTER, Ind. - Two people were arrested Friday in connection with an armed carjacking at a gas station that prompted a car chase in Munster, Indiana.

Officers responded about 5:37 p.m. to the BP station at 747 Ridge Rd. after a 22-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy stole a woman’s Dodge Durango at gunpoint, Munster police said.

Later, Chicago police officers located the Durango and tried to pull it over the car fled into Indiana, police said. An Illinois State Police helicopter followed the car.

Officers pursued the car as it traveled on Interstate 80/94 just after midnight Friday, police and the Lake County sheriff’s office said. The driver avoided a roadblock and exited onto Kennedy Avenue, where he struck a St. John Police Department vehicle.

The Durango then crashed into a ditch and the man, who was driving, and his teenage passenger ran from the car, officials said. The man allegedly threw a gun over a fence as he ran.

The teen was arrested after being found hiding underneath outdoor furniture at a brewery, and the man was taken into custody outside a nearby hotel, officials said. Officers recovered gun the man allegedly threw while he ran as well as two other guns, a pistol and an AR-15, in the Durango.