Manhunt: Elkhart police search for one of three burglary suspects

Just before 10 a.m. Elkhart Police tracked down two of the three suspects possibly connected to a morning home invasion on Prairie Street.

One suspect was arrested on the 2000 Block of Moreland Street and another on the 1800 block of Stevens Street. Both were teenagers.

Elkhart Police Department K-9 units spent nearly two hours in the neighborhood near Pierre Moran Middle School searching for the missing suspect.

One of the teens police caught was arrested next to Jason Lippencott’s home on Francis St. and Wolf Ave. “We heard the dogs barking, the walkie-talkies, and cops yelling,” he said.

From his front porch Lippencott said he saw a cop, with his gun drawn, run past his home in pursuit of one of the teens. “We heard some shouts and commands to get on the ground,” he said.

It’s a scene Lippencott doesn’t see too often but the circumstances behind it, break-ins and crime, are all too common for him and his neighbors. “There’s been three (burglaries) on this block of Francis,” he said. “There’ve been two (burglaries) in the last year (on the adjacent block) of Francis. There (are) always houses getting broken into.”

“It’s kind of expected,” said Seth Hagens, who lives on the 1800 block of Stevens St. Hagens had his home robbed a few years ago. He said both of his next-door neighbors have also been a victim.

“There (are) a lot of bad influences around here,” said Hagens. “Kids getting into trouble with drugs and everything, they need money for what they need so they do what they have to do to get it.”

Even if the third man police are looking for doesn’t get found some in this neighborhood said a burglary suspect on the loose is the least of their problems. “There (are) still a lot of break-ins, people’s houses getting spray painted by the gangs. There was a fight in my alley a couple weeks ago,” said Lippencott.

Laura Koch with the Elkhart Police Department said investigators are doing interviews and trying to find the identity of the third suspect before another search is conducted.