The Lane Bryant shooting was an incident of mass murder and armed robbery at a Lane Bryant clothing outlet in the Brookside Marketplace in Tinley Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, that occurred on February 2, 2008. The shooting resulted in five people killed and a sixth injured.
| Lane Bryant shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Tinley Park, Illinois, United States |
| Coordinates | 41°32′51″N 87°47′38″W / 41.54748°N 87.79375°W |
| Date | February 2, 2008 c. 10:45 a.m. (UTC-6) |
Attack type | Mass murder, mass shooting, armed robbery, sexual assault |
| Weapons | Glock handgun chambered for .40 S&W |
| Deaths | 5 |
| Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Unknown |
| Motive | Unknown |
| Outcome | Cold case |
The identity of the shooter remains unknown. Police released a sketch of the suspect on February 11, 2008, receiving two dozen leads in the first 24 hours.[1]
Shooting
editFour customers, a part-time employee and the store manager were taken to the back of the store and shot. Five of them, all women, were killed; the part-time employee was wounded but survived. At least one of the victims was sexually assaulted by the perpetrator.[2] Police found the victims shortly after receiving an emergency call at 10:45 a.m. The gunman was described as a black man with thick, cornrowed hair and a receding hairline,[3] along with one braid lying over the right side of his face at cheek level and decorated with four light-green beads on the end.[4] Police believe the attack was a robbery "gone awry", though the motive of the shooting has been a matter of debate.[5]
The five deceased victims were:[3]
- Jennifer L. Bishop, age 34, of South Bend, Indiana;
- Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort;
- Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet (the store manager);
- Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; and
- Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor.
The police withheld the age and identity of the surviving victim, the part-time employee of the store.
Aftermath
edit
The shopping center was closed and locked down while being searched. It was reopened after police found that the gunman had left the immediate area.[6]
A $100,000 reward, half of which was donated by Lane Bryant's parent company, Charming Shoppes Inc., was offered for information leading to the gunman's arrest.[3] On February 6, 2008, Lane Bryant announced the establishment of The Lane Bryant Tinley Park Memorial Fund in honor of the five women who were killed.[7] Lane Bryant also offered to pay for the victims' funerals.
The Steve Wilkos Show, being taped in Chicago, profiled the suspect of the shooting at the end of one episode since the incident.[8]
The store building itself remained unused until November 2013, when T.J. Maxx took it over for use as a retail outlet.[9]
See also
edit- Brown's Chicken massacre, a similar murder of employees on January 8, 1993, in Palatine, Illinois
- List of homicides in Illinois
References
edit- ^ Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times (February 11, 2008). "Sketch of Lane Bryant suspect nets 2 dozen leads". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008.
- ^ "Police: Gunman in store attack sexually assaulted victim". 6 February 2008.
- ^ a b c Michael Tarm, Associated Press (February 3, 2008). "5 shot dead at suburban Chicago store". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008.
- ^ Michael Tarm, Associated Press (February 5, 2008). "Police describe shooting suspect". The Times. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013.
- ^ "Five women killed in Chicago-area store shooting". Reuters. 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ^ "5 dead in strip mall shooting; gunman at large". CNN. February 3, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008.
- ^ "Lane Bryant creates memorial fund for shooting victims". Blast Magazine. February 6, 2008. Archived from the original on February 8, 2008.
- ^ THE STEVE WILKOS SHOW: Help Steve Catch a Killer! Archived 2010-08-04 at the Wayback Machine [dead link]
- ^ Pratt, Gregory (November 7, 2013). "Tinley Park shooting site opening as new store". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on November 7, 2013.