Police search for 3 suspects in grab-and-run theft at Alo Yoga at Oakbrook Center Mall
Police in Oak Brook, Illinois, were searching Monday for three men in a grab-and-run theft at a store at Oakbrook Center Mall.
Around 11 a.m., Oakbrook Center security called police by radio for a burglary at the Alo Store in the mall.
Oak Brook police units found the suspects' vehicle headed north on Spring Road from 16th Street in the west Chicago suburb as it sped off.
The car was tagged by a StarChase GPS dart fired from an Oak Brook squad car near Roosevelt Road. Officers monitored the car as it sped off onto the Eisenhower Expressway and made it east all the way to Sacramento Avenue on Chicago's West Side.
After getting off the Eisenhower at northbound Sacramento Avenue, the occupants of the getaway car got out and entered another car, police said. The abandoned getaway car was towed and taken to the Oak Brook Police Department.
Inside the getaway car was $9,600 worth of stolen merchandise, and several items of evidentiary value, police said.
The suspects are believed to be involved with other Alo store burglaries in the Chicago area, police said.
The GPS tag gun used to track the getaway car in this case has been stopping and preventing dangerous police chases in the suburbs.
GPS darts can be deployed from the front grille of a police cruiser, or from a handheld launcher. Once a dart is affixed to a car, a police dispatch center is able to monitor where the car is going — so officers can safely track it down without the perpetrators knowing, and try to make an arrest.
The dart sticks to the suspects' cars in all weather. Its tracking technology can eliminate the need for potentially dangerous chases.
Anyone with information on the suspects in the Oak Brook theft is asked to call the Oak Brook Police Department Investigations Division at 630-368-8724.
