STERLING, Ill. (KWQC) – Crews are searching for a man they believe may be armed and dangerous.

The Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office is looking for John P. Parker40 years old, 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 around 4:30 p.m. at Lawrence Park.

Around 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 wanted subject for attempted murder,” Sheriff Booker said. “Our deputies had spotted him in the area close to there, in the Galt area.

Our deputies attempted to contact him, ordered him to stop and he immediately fled.

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 Office as well as all local law enforcement, including K-9s and drones, on the island, with a negative reading.

We couldn’t find it.

The subject had undressed, he was mostly in his underwear. We found the clothes he was wearing when deputies were chasing him.

At this point we are asking citizens in our area, if anyone sees Johnathan Parker, which is what we are looking for, to call the police immediately.

The arrest warrant was issued before he was armed and dangerous, but we can say today that we have not seen him armed, but that does not mean that he is not armed.

We hope that with the cooperation of the community, we can tackle this topic.

Sheriff Booker told TV6 the search lasted nearly four hours, conducting aquatic searches, using drones and K-9s, resulting in a massive search.

Parker’s research follows from the following.

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

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

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