A gunman fatally shot five women in a robbery at a store in a suburban Chicago shopping center and fled, prompting police to sweep through neighboring shops as terrified customers watched.
The victims, including at least one employee, were killed at a Lane Bryant women's clothing store Saturday at the Brookside Marketplace, police Sergeant T.J. Grady said. Officers found the victims at the back of the store after getting an emergency call around 10:45am, Grady said.
Grady said robbery was believed to be the motive. Police searched for the gunman using dogs and a helicopter equipped with infrared sensors but concluded he left the stores off Interstate 80 southwest of downtown Chicago.
In a Target discount store across the parking lot from Lane Bryant, terrified customers were herded to the front as police with pistols drawn went up and down the aisles and into storerooms searching for the gunman.
"I was so scared I couldn't think," said Selena Kujawa, who had just entered the store with her five-year-old son when it was locked down.
After about an hour, customers were told to leave.
"They told us to get in our cars and get out of here," Kujawa said.
Meanwhile, the Chicago police department warned its officers to pay attention to shopping centers and other Lane Bryant stores, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.
Grady said police are downloading video from cameras mounted at nearby stores.
The store was open at the time of the shootings. Grady declined to say whether the victims were customers or employees. He gave no ages and said authorities are still trying to reach the victims' families.
The small Lane Bryant is part of a cluster of four or five stores isolated on one side of a large blacktop parking lot, with big stores including Target and a Best Buy electronics store several hundred meters away.
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