Police search for suspect involved in armed robbery, crashed stolen car into freight train

ZION, Ill. (CBS 58) --  Police are still searching for a man involved in an armed robbery and crash involving a freight train Thursday morning, Feb. 10.

It happened just before 4 a.m.

Edward Meek got a knock at his backdoor around 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning. A BP gas station employee had just been robbed across the street near Russell and Sheridan in Pleasant Prairie. She asked Meek if she could use his phone to call police. 

"She was scared and didn't want to come to the front door," Meek said. 

Pleasant Prairie police say the two suspects took her purse and keys. One of the suspects shot his gun during the robbery.

"She was real shaken up. She said the guy had the gun and shot it in the air and it scared her. She didn't know what to do. She was that far gone," Meek said. 

"She was terrified she was going to get killed, so she dropped the keys and ran," Pleasant Prairie Police Chief David Smenta said.

The two men got away in the victim's car. Lake County sheriff's deputies found the car abandoned on railroad tracks. It was hit by a train near the Van Patton Woods Forest Preserve in Illinois. The car was dragged nearly a mile.

"Within that half hour of the crime being committed...that car has driven onto the tracks," Chief Smenta said. 

Deputies saw a person walking in the area matching the description of one of the suspects. He was arrested. Deputies found the victim's cellphone in his back pocket.

"We don't have these incidents every day, but our officers know how to respond, and luckily we work very closely with other jurisdictions so it's really a team effort." 

The suspect is in the Lake County Jail. A felony warrant was issued. He will be extradited back to Wisconsin to face many charges. 

Police are still searching for the second suspect who may be armed, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Police are warning people not to approach the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.