A driver's pickup truck took gunfire on northbound Route 41 in Highland Park Friday morning, and police say the shooter sped off before officers could catch up. Highland Park police and fire personnel responded at about 10:12 a.m. to reports of shots fired near the highway just south of Central Avenue, where a roughly 60-year-old man told officers he heard gunshots from a passing vehicle and then discovered damage to his own car.
The man was able to pull over safely and report the incident, according to NBC 5 Chicago. He also managed to get a license plate number and description of the vehicle he believed was responsible, a detail that is now central to the investigation. Paramedics evaluated him at the scene for minor injuries, though accounts differ on what happened next — Patch reports he was released at the scene, while Lake and McHenry County Scanner reports he declined transport to the hospital.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner, citing the same reporting, notes that the victim's Chevrolet pickup truck had its passenger-side window shot out during the attack. Police are now searching for a dark blue Acura MDX bearing Illinois license plate FF68243, and they believe that vehicle has already left the area.
Jurisdiction Still Being Sorted Out
As of Friday, authorities were still working to determine which agency has jurisdiction over the reported shooting, according to the Lake County Journal. Police are asking anyone with information about the incident or the vehicle to call 911.
Not the First Time Guns Have Gone Off on This Stretch
This isn't the first time gunfire has erupted along this corridor. In August 2022, a motorist opened fire on Route 41 in Highland Park during what police described as a dispute between drivers, according to Patch. That incident, reported shortly before 2:15 p.m. near the same Route 41 and Central Avenue exit, involved two shots fired, with one striking another car; officers searched the area after the shooter's car exited at Central Avenue and headed east, but were unable to find it, and no one was injured or in custody as of the following day.
A separate shooting was also reported on the Edens Expressway in Skokie last year, when a driver heading south on Interstate 94 near Golf Road told police that someone in another car fired shots, striking the driver's vehicle, per the Chicago Sun-Times. No injuries were reported in that case, and no one was taken into custody.
Expressway Shootings Have Fallen Sharply Statewide
Friday's shooting comes against a backdrop of declining expressway gun violence across Illinois. State police data cited by ABC7 Chicago shows Illinois recorded 61 expressway shootings in 2025, an 80 percent drop from the 310 shootings reported in 2021. The station also reported that 2025 marked a year with no fatal interstate highway shootings in the state, and that shootings fell 31 percent from 2024, when 12 of 89 recorded shootings proved fatal.
