In Evanston Autobarn Robbery, Police Release Photos of Suspects

EVANSTON, IL - Police have released photos taken from surveillance camera footage of people they describe as three of the six suspects in the robbery of the Evanston Autobarn dealership just after midnight Friday morning. Four BMWs and a Porche were taken, according to police.

A nearby resident called to say they heard arguing in the alley, and officers responding to that call first arrived on the scene around 12:15 am Friday morning, according to Evanston police.

They said they arrived to find that the alley was empty. The dealership was empty too, except for an unoccupied car idling inside. The office had been broken into, a glass door was busted and one of the overhead bay doors was left wide open, police reported.

Two of the cars were soon found on Lake Shore Drive and Fullerton, another around North and Mohawk, with another also having been driven to Chicago and abandoned, according to an Evanston police spokesperson.

A reader emailed Patch Saturday morning to report hearing a broadcast on the Chicago Police Department scanner indicating the fifth car (a white 2013 BMW X3) had also been recovered. CPD officers recovered the vehicle with no license plates and unoccupied around 8:30 am Saturday morning on the 1600 block of South Komensky, according to a spokesperson. An Evanston police spokesperson Saturday evening confirmed the vehicle has been found.

Dan Drescher, Autobarn general manager, did not respond to requests for comment.

Previously, at the same 1033 Chicago Avenue Autobarn, two cars with the keys in the ignition have been stolen from the driveway but were later recovered, according to EvanstonNow.

(Photos courtesy of the Evanston Police Department, which requests that anyone with information on this incident contacts them at (847) 866-5000 and asks for the detective bureau or utilizes Text-A-Tip at CRIMES (274637) and enter EPDTIP in the message line with the tip information.)