Suspect remains at large after break-in

Gun shop break-in leads to chase into Lorain County

A break-in at a Mentor gun shop stretched all the way into Lorain County on July 16.

Mentor police received a call about 5 a.m. of a break-in in progress at Silverado Firearms, 7255 Center St. Upon arrival, officers saw a man running from the front of the store south toward an alley leading to the rear of the building. At the same time a vehicle came from behind the building, according to a city of Mentor news release.

The vehicle refused to stop for officers and drove directly at them. Two of the officers on scene fired a total of four rounds at the vehicle as it was heading toward them. The driver of the vehicle exited and fled on foot. A passenger moved into the driver’s seat and drove northbound in the lot and headed north on Center Street.

Officers pursued the vehicle as it entered state Route 2 eastbound. The vehicle traveled a short distance and went off the right side of the road, down the embankment and through the right-ofway fence, coming to rest in the parking lot of a Tyler Boulevard business.

One of the occupants of the car then stole a vehicle from a medical facility across the street from where the car came to a rest.

A description of the stolen car was broadcast and was located by Willowick and Wickliffe police, who pursued the car into North Ridgeville. The Ohio Highway Patrol then took up the pursuit, where it ended in Columbia Station when the fleeing car was involved in a head-on crash with a civilian vehicle. The suspect was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

The driver who fled the original scene on foot returned to the scene and turned himself in. Police said he is a 15-year-old from Cleveland. Mentor officers checked the area for other suspects and found an adult man walking in the area of Tyler Boulevard and Hopkins Road. Police determined that he was involved the in the break-in and found that he had a non-incapacitating injury to the side of his head. He was transported to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights.

A fourth male suspect is sought.

The incident remains under investigation by Mentor police with help from the Lake County Crime Lab.

Police are yet unable to determine if anything is missing from Silverado Firearms.

No Mentor police officers were injured during the incident.