LEESBURG - Three Lake County residents are in the Kosciusko County Jail after allegedly being caught Wednesday evening in possession of a stolen car. The three men also are suspects in an Elkhart County carjacking earlier in the day.

Booked into the KCJ were:

• Gregory Price, 18, Gary, charged with receiving stolen property and carrying a handgun without a permit;

• Renard Allen Davis, 19, Merrillville, charged with possession of property and carrying a handgun without a permit; and

• Michael Dwayne Brewer, 20, Merrillville, charged with receiving stolen property and carrying a handgun without a permit.

All three are being held without bond.

According to a Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department report, Milford Town Marshal Dave Hobbs requested backup for making a traffic stop on the car the suspects were in after a check of the license plate revealed the car was stolen. That information also came with a warning that the occupants of the vehicle should be considered armed and dangerous.

Hobbs was notified by a salesman at a Milford car lot that the men were there and he thought the three were acting suspiciously. The men weren't at the car lot when Hobbs arrived, but the car they were in reportedly went past while Hobbs got the license number and information from the salesman.

Hobbs began to follow the 2000 Hyundai, but lost sight of the car while it was southbound on Ind. 15. Four KCSD squad cars encountered the alleged stolen vehicle on Ind. 15 in Leesburg in front of Polk Equipment Inc.

All three of the suspects were removed from the vehicle at gunpoint in what police call a "felony traffic stop," and the car was impounded for the Gary Police Department.

The stolen vehicle belongs to an Illinois man and the three denied having any knowledge that the vehicle was stolen. They also denied knowing anything about a 9-mm handgun removed from under the seat in which Brewer was sitting at the time of the traffic stop. However, during interviews at the KCSD, each of the suspects blamed the others for taking the car.

During an inventory of the car, police also allegedly found a cellular telephone and a fax machine, with ammunition reportedly removed from the pockets of Davis and Brewer. Brewer also reportedly had several credit cards and a driver's license with names other than his own on them. It is not known whether those items were stolen, police said.

The three suspects reportedly agreed that their trip in the Hyundai began in Gary early Wednesday and ended in Elkhart. They were reportedly on their way home when they got lost and ended up in Kosciusko County.

While in Elkhart, the men are accused of taking a car from a man at gunpoint.

An Elkhart County Sheriff's Department report indicates that Roy Taylor of Elkhart reported his car was taken from him shortly before 3 p.m. while in front of a friend's residence. Taylor apparently left the engine of his car running and saw the black car the suspects were in pass by the residence twice. On the second trip past, one of the males reportedly got out and walked to the driver's door of Taylor's car and pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at him. The suspect then drove off in Taylor's car, with the victim chasing his own car on foot until he got a ride from another man who agreed to follow Taylor's car.

The suspect then abandoned Taylor's car at Midtown in Elkhart before fleeing in the car he was in originally, taking Taylor's car keys with him.

Charges are pending against the suspects in both Lake and Elkhart counties, authorities said. [[In-content Ad]]