Lane Bryant shooting

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 deaths and one injury.

Lane Bryant shooting
LocationTinley Park, Illinois, United States
DateFebruary 2, 2008 (2008-02-02)
c. 10:45 a.m. (UTC-6)
Attack type
Armed robbery, mass murder
Weapons.40 S&W Glock handgun
Deaths5
Injured1
PerpetratorUnknown

The identity of the shooter remains unknown. Police released a sketch of the suspect on February 11, 2008, receiving two dozen leads on the very first day.[1]

Details


Four customers, a part-time employee, and the store manager were taken to the back of the store and shot. Five of the women were killed; the part-time employee was wounded but survived. 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,[2] 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.[3] Police believe it was a robbery "gone awry".[4]

The five deceased victims are:[2]

  • 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 are withholding the age and identity of the surviving victim, the part-time employee of the store.

Aftermath

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.[5]

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.[2] 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.[6] 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.[7]

The store building itself remained unused until November 2013, when T.J. Maxx took it over for use as a retail outlet.[8]

See also
  • Brown's Chicken massacre, a similar murder of shoppers and workers on January 8, 1993, in Palatine, Illinois
  • List of massacres in Illinois

References
  1. 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.
  2. Michael Tarm, Associated Press (February 3, 2008). "5 shot dead at suburban Chicago store". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008.
  3. Michael Tarm, Associated Press (February 5, 2008). "Police describe shooting suspect". The Times. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013.
  4. "Five women killed in Chicago-area store shooting". Reuters. 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  5. "5 dead in strip mall shooting; gunman at large". CNN. February 3, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008.
  6. "Lane Bryant creates memorial fund for shooting victims". Blast Magazine. February 6, 2008. Archived from the original on February 8, 2008.
  7. THE STEVE WILKOS SHOW: Help Steve Catch a Killer! Archived 2010-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Pratt, Gregory (November 7, 2013). "Tinley Park shooting site opening as new store". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on November 7, 2013.
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