Authorities searching for North Bay car theft suspect

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office tracked the vehicle, a dark-colored GMC SUV, to the Petaluma area, Marin County sheriff's Lt. Keith Boyd said.

Law enforcement officers fired Tasers at the man in his 20s or 30s but he managed to flee in the vehicle, Boyd said.

The suspect drove west on Petaluma-Point Reyes Road in rural Sonoma County into west Marin and was spotted by a Marin County sheriff's deputy near the Nicasio Reservoir, Boyd said.

The deputy chased the SUV until he lost sight of it, but officers tracked the SUV with the OnStar system in the vehicle, Boyd said. The suspect drove through Point Reyes Station, Olema and Bolinas before heading east on Fairfax-Bolinas Road into Fairfax, Boyd said.

The suspect then left the vehicle in Woodacre and fled on foot, Boyd said. Authorities set up a one-square-mile perimeter in the wooded, hilly area.

The suspect is a white man approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a burgundy-colored short, gray or blue sweatpants and wore his hair pulled back, There was no indication he changed clothes during the search, Boyd said.

The Montessori pre-school in the Lagunitas School District was closed before it opened, and the San Geronimo Valley and Lagunitas elementary schools were partially locked down at 8:45 a.m. in response to the incident, district principal Laura Shain said.

The school doors were locked and students were kept inside, but the lockdown was lifted around noon when the sheriff's office said the suspect is within the periphery and dogs were being sent in to help capture him, Shain said.

Shain said 300 students attend the San Geronimo Valley and Lagunitas elementary schools that are located on the same campus in San Geronimo.

The search perimeter in Woodacre is not in the immediate vicinity of the schools, Shain said.

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