Manhunt continues for killer of five women at Tinley Park clothing store
A manhunt was under way Sunday as authorities searched for a gunman who killed five women inside a Lane Bryant store at a strip mall in Chicago's southwest suburbs.
The women - a store manager and four shoppers - were herded to the back room of the clothing store at Brookside Marketplace during a botched robbery attempt that authorities said may have been interrupted.
They were identified Sunday as: Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind.
More Coverage Video " class="mediaItem">5 dead in mall shooting
The Will County coroner's office said all five died from gunshot wounds.
Police were tight-lipped during a brief news conference Sunday afternoon and declined to comment further on the status of their investigation.
"This has been an extremely sensitive investigation," said Tinley Park Police Chief Mike O'Connell.
Lane Bryant's parent company, Bensalem, Pa.-based Charming Shoppes Inc. said it was offering a $50,000 reward for information that could lead investigators to the gunman.
"The employees of Charming Shoppes and Lane Bryant are deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from this horrific event," the company said in a statement Sunday, adding that it was closing its Chicago-area stores on Sunday in honor of the slain. "We grieve for the innocent victims and our primary concern at this time is for the families and loved ones of those fatally injured."
Szafranski was a 2007 graduate of Northern Illinois University, according to a Web site that appeared to be her Facebook page.
"Our emotions are raw. And we are still in shock," her family said in a statement. "Sarah was loved by all who knew her and we are counting on that love to sustain us while we mourn."
Chiuso, a 1993 graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, was a social worker at the school.
"Carrie was deeply loved by faculty and staff," said school spokesman Dave Thieman in a statement. "She had a real touch with students. The entire H-F family is deeply saddened."
Saturday's attack was unsettling for residents of Tinley Park, a growing suburb of nearly 60,000 people, where only one murder was reported between 1999 through 2006, according to annual reports compiled by Illinois State Police.
Tinley Park Mayor Edward Zabrocki said he ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on municipal buildings for five days - on day for each of the victims.
"This tragedy should not have happened in any town," he said.
On Saturday, officers went aisle-by-aisle through neighboring shops and searched for the gunman with dogs and a helicopter equipped with infrared sensors.
At the mall on Sunday, police tape flapped in the wind in front of the boarded-up Lane Bryant store where the shootings occurred while a dozen investigators scoured the area.
Meanwhile, mourners erected a makeshift memorial of five white crosses and flowers outside the store as shoppers returned to the mall and tried to make sense Sunday of the brutal killings.
A tear rolled down Cindy Sorenson's cheek as she brought a bouquet of bright red roses to the Lane Bryant store Sunday morning.
Sorenson, who works as a store manager at a nearby mall in this community of nearly 60,000 people, said she didn't know any of the victims, but couldn't stop thinking about the women who died.
"Your job is your home," the 34-year-old Tinley Park resident said. "You spend so much time in a store and you never think anything like this will happen."
David Korbel knelt down on one knee and bowed his head in prayer by a curb in front of the store.
"I simply prayed for the families and for the authorities, so that they would get the man who did this," said Korbel, who lives in nearby Frankfort.