Two juvenile suspects were in custody Friday afternoon and a third one remained on the loose in Leesburg after a car chase that started in Lady Lake.
The chase started after a small white Ford compact vehicle was stolen from a mobile home park. The suspects raced down U.S. Hwy. 27/441 and eventually bailed out of the vehicle behind the Walgreens in Leesburg, at the intersection of the highway and Picciola Road.
Two of the juveniles were caught and arrested near the front door of the drug store, while a third got away and apparently fled into the nearby neighborhood of Overlook at Lake Griffin.
At that point, a manhunt was launched involving multiple Lake County sheriff’s deputies and officers from Lady Lake, Fruitland Park and Leesburg. A sheriff’s deputy driving through the neighborhood apparently spotted the suspect and ordered him to get on the ground. But he fled into a nearby wooded area known for homeless camps off Park Holland Drive with the deputy and other law enforcement officers close behind.
Two women who apparently live in one of the camps were turned away from entering the woods while the search was under way. An officer was seen walking through the Overlook neighborhood carrying a high-powered weapon as he searched for the suspect. And several law enforcement vehicles from different agencies blocked Park Holland Drive and set up a perimeter around the wooded area.
A woman who was parked in the Walgreens parking lot said she was trying to get to her elderly parents’ home on Park Holland Drive but was told it wasn’t safe to go there. She said her parents had spoken with sheriff’s deputies who had told them to stay inside their home away from windows.
A Lake County sheriff’s helicopter also aided in the search. It could be seen flying wide sweeps above the Overlook neighborhood, the wooded area and the Walgreens for quite some time.
