Man wanted, possibly armed and dangerous, search ongoing

STERLING, Ill. (KWQC) – Crews are looking for a man they say is armed and dangerous.

The Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office is looking for Johnathan P. Parker40, who is wanted on an arrest warrant for aggravated battery with a firearm.

Earlier Friday, crews were searching the water between Sterling and Rock Falls.

TV6 arrived on scene in Lawrence Park at approximately 4:30 p.m.

At approximately 5 p.m., TV6 spoke with Whiteside County Sheriff John Booker, who said:

“What we had here was a search for a wanted subject, a subject wanted on a charge of attempted murder,” Sheriff Booker said. “Our deputies had spotted him around here, in the Galt area.

Our deputies attempted to contact him, ordered him to stop and he immediately took off from them.

He crossed the river, and our last contact point where we saw him was on an island.

A massive search was conducted by our sheriff’s offices and all local law enforcement, including K-9s and drones, on the island, with negative results.

We couldn’t find him.

The subject was undressed, he was actually in his underwear. We found his clothes that he was wearing when the officers chased him.

At this time we are asking the citizens in our area: if anyone sees Johnathan Parker, which is the subject we are looking for, please call the police immediately.

The word was out before that he was armed and dangerous, but we can say today that we didn’t see him armed, but that doesn’t mean he’s not armed.

We believe that with the cooperation of the community, we can hopefully bring attention to this issue.”

Sheriff Booker told TV6 the search lasted almost four hours, during which water searches were conducted, using drones and K-9s, resulting in a massive search.

The search for Parker stems from the following.

On Monday, Rock Falls police responded to a report of a person who had been there shot at a home in the 900 block of West 5th Street in Rock Falls.

This is a development story. TV6 will continue to provide on-air and online information as it becomes available.