Posted on 02/02/2008 7:46:53 PM PST by blam
Gunman kills five women in Chicago store
By Tim Shipman in Chicago
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 03/02/2008
Five people were shot dead at a women's clothing store in a Chicago suburb on Saturday.
Police evacuated the mall and sealed off the car park after at least five shots were fired
The victims, all women, were killed inside the Lane Bryant store at Brookside Marketplace shopping centre at Tinley Park, south of Chicago.
Police evacuated the mall and sealed off the car park after at least five shots were fired shortly before noon.
It is thought that the shooting occurred after a robbery went wrong and there were reports that the raider had taken some of the victims hostage in the plus-sized clothing store.
Police said that security cameras in the store had allowed them to tentatively identify the man, who is understood to have a history of armed robbery and a murder conviction.
The killer fled the scene after the shooting. A police dogs unit and helicopter were last night working to track down the suspect.
Armed officers also searched neighbouring stores in the area and cars in the parking lot.
Tinley Park Police Sgt TJ Grady said that they were looking for a 5ft 8in tall black man, weighing between 16 and 20 stone and wearing a waist-length black coat, a black knit cap, dark jeans and with braids in his hair.
One victim was was taken to the nearby St James Hospital and Health Care Centres for treatment to gunshot wounds but died later.
Sgt Grady said: "Responding units entered the store and found multiple victims that had been shot and killed.
"No motive has been established. Every store was immediately canvassed and a search by air, too, has given us every indication that the offender has left the scene."
Shoppers said that they were baffled by the motive behind the shooting as it had happened relatively early in the day, about 10.45, while shops would have had quite small amounts of money in their cash registers.
Residents of the predominantly white community of Tinley Park, which describes itself as Chicago's "fastest growing suburb" and has a population of about 58,000, said that they that were shocked by the shooting.
According to FBI crime statistics there was not a single murder in Tinley Park in 2007.
The other violent crime statistics are also low - four sexual assaults, 15 robberies and 38 assaults.
Greg Grace, from nearby Frankfort, who was in the parking lot outside Lane Bryant, said that he saw several stretchers being wheeled into the store. The stretchers were later wheeled out - carrying no wounded survivors.
The mayor, Edward Zabrocki, went to the scene and - looking very shaken - said: "We're very sad about this. We're a victim of our society that we live in."
One witness at the scene described how police officers responded quickly to news of the shootings and hunted the gunman through other stores on the strip mall, with guns drawn and sniffer dogs in tow.
Another witness, Tracy Caccavella, said that she was in a nearby PetSmart store when police burst in with their guns drawn. She said that the officers ordered the store's staff not to let in any more customers before conducting a 20-minute search.
The multiple killing comes a month after nine people died in a shooting at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska.
Nineteen-year-old Robert Hawkins killed eight people, wounded four, then shot himself at the Westroads Mall on December 5 last year.
It was the deadliest shooting in Nebraska since the rampage of Charles Starkweather, who killed 11 people in 1958.
errrrr Telegraph UK ??????? I meant.
No, The Telegraph (UK)
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if this thread gets yanked, too.
This is from the UK Telegraph so it must be a measure in England. I don’t get it, though.
I couldn’t find if they caught the guy. Is he still on the loose or in custody?
And someone allowed his history to repeat itself.
See post .....#21
I think it was pulled because too many people made fat jokes about Lane Bryant customers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963893/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963905/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963899/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963945/posts
I used to carry all the time (S&W Model 10 snub or Walther PPK/S). If caught, it was just a $500 fine and loose the gun. Now 10 years later its a “class X felony”. You won’t even be able to buy .22 long rifle cartridges at Wal-Mart.
Another gun free and defenseless victim zone succeeds in protecting their patrons. [/sarcasm]
I was looking for it also. I guess one of us could have posted it...
A number of threads remain. There may be problems with title search.
Was this little bit of info really needed?
It goes to motive. Seeing as how the government is now considering laws to punish the obese, the fellow was actually thinning out the public at-large.
Just like I said over on the other thread about the teen scumbags who stole a girl scout’s money, people just tolerate too much bad behavior. This piece of garbage was a convicted killer but he was out on the street?? We will probably hear the usual outrage now that this shouldn’t have happened. Yet every time it does happen, nothing changes. Criminals will get even softer treatment when a Democrat president is appointing federal judges too. Voters don’t think of things like that.
I am still curious as to why this is not being reported in the US media. Has anyone seen or heard anything about it, other than this thread?
You can rant, or you can read the story. I read, you rant.
"a 5ft 8in tall black man"
Whatever happened to metric? All I ever hear is criticism for the US sticking to English units.
yes - all over. But the election news is taking priority
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