Evolution doesn't hold we evolved from apes, so either the "evolutionists" you asked this question were utterly ignorant on the subject or they were of the same general level of intelligence as yourself.
(Notice I didn't assert that you lied about ever having actually asked anyone this question.)
“Evolution doesn’t hold we evolved from apes ...”
Sincen the article is, “Missing link between man and apes found,” you repudiae it?
Just curious.
Hank
Definitions of terms required here.
The scientific Family of "great apes" (hominids) first branched off from the Order of monkeys about 15 million years ago.
About 2.5 million years ago the Genus "homo" (pre-humans) split from the other great apes.
The first and only sub-species of fully modern humans (homo sapiens sapiens) branched off somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.
Bottom line: humans did branch off from the Genus of pre-humans (homo), the Family of great apes (hominids), and the Order of monkeys (primates), but not from any species alive today.