Lane Bryant shooting

Infobox civilian attack
title = Lane Bryant shooting
location = Tinley Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States
coordinates =
target =
date = February 2, 2008
time = approx. 10:45am
timezone = UTC-6
type = Armed robbery
fatalities = 5
injuries = 1
perp = Unknown
weapons = Unspecified firearmThe Lane Bryant shooting was an incident of mass murder and armed robbery at a Lane Bryant clothing outlet in the Brookside Marketplace in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Illinois, United States, that occurred on February 2, 2008. The shooting resulted in five fatalities, and the injury of another.

Police do not yet know the identity of the shooter. Police released a sketch of the suspect on February 11, receiving two dozen leads the first day. [cite news |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/787588,CST-NWS-shoot11.article|title=Sketch of Lane Bryant suspect nets 2 dozen leads |author=Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times |pub=Chicago Sun-Times |date=February 11, 2008]

Details

Four customers, a part-time employee, and the store manager, all women, were taken to the back of the store and shot. Five of the women were killed, but the part-time employee was only wounded and 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,cite news |url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/store_shooting|title=5 shot dead at suburban Chicago store |author=Michael Tarm, Associated Press |pub=Yahoo! News |date=February 3, 2008] 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.cite news |url=http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2008/02/05/news/illiana/doc2b3e9d912895e171862573e60004bd7d.txt |title=Police describe shooting suspect |author=Michael Tarm, Associated Press |pub=The Times |date=February 5, 2008] Police believe it was a robbery "gone awry."cite news |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0244670020080203|publisher=Reuters |date=2008-02-02 |accessdate=2008-02-02 |title=Five women killed in Chicago-area store shooting]

The victims are:
*Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor;
*Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest;
*Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort;
*Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet, the store manager;
*Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana
*The identity of the survivor was protected by police and as of April 6, 2008 had not been released to the media.

Aftermath

The shopping center was temporarily closed and locked down while being searched. It was reopened after police found that the gunman had left the immediate area. [cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/02/store.shooting/index.html|title=5 dead in strip mall shooting; gunman at large|author=|publisher=CNN|date=February 3, 2008]

Illinois senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama released a statement following the killings:

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. 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. [cite news |url=http://blastmagazine.com/2008/02/lane-bryant-creates-memorial-fund-for-shooting-victims/ |title=Lane Bryant creates memorial fund for shooting victims |publisher=Blast Magazine |date=February 6, 2008] Lane Bryant also offered to pay for the victims' funerals.

Illinois is one of only two states left where concealed carry of firearms for personal protection is still illegal.

The Steve Wilkos Show, being taped in Chicago, has been profiling the suspect of the shooting at the end of each episode since the incident. [ [http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=r-0kDw_h15I THE STEVE WILKOS SHOW: Help Steve Catch a Killer!] ]

References

* [http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=52877 America's Most Wanted]
* [http://www.lanebryant.com/pagebuilder/lanebryant_store_locator_mapdisplay?recordid=6699]