One survivor in Tinley Park rampage
As police continued to search for a gunman who killed five women in a Tinley Park clothing store, sources said a sixth person was also shot, but survived.
At a 2 p.m. news conference, Tinley Park Police Chief Michael O’Connell released the names of the five victims, but gave few new details about the tragedy.
O’Connell described the Saturday morning shooting as a robbery-gone-bad.
“This incident appears to stem from an armed robbery attempt which was interrupted which led to the five murders,” he said. Police had previously said the gunman led the five women into the back room of the store, killed them, then walked out the front door and disappeared.
Investigators left the impression Saturday there were no survivors in the Lane Bryant store, located in a southwest suburban strip mall along Interstate 80.
But sources familiar with the investigation said Sunday that one person was shot and survived.
At the news conference Sunday, O’Connell would not confirm that.
When reporters suggested police had led the public to believe that there were no survivors, O’Connell replied: “To the best of my knowledge, I did not make that comment, but I am not going to address that issue now.”
Sherry Sissac, spokeswoman for St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields confirmed that a female victim from the shooting was transported to the hospital Saturday morning. Sissac said she could not say whether the victim was dead or alive when she was transported, or if the victim remained at the hospital.
Police identified the dead as Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor, Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet, Sarah Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest and Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort.
The horrific scene unfolded Saturday morning, when police descended on the Brookside Marketplace shopping center shortly after the shooting occurred. Some went door to door, coming stores for clues. Others hunted in a nearby subdivision for a stocky man described by one witness, while helicopters hovered in the sky. One helicopter, armed with an infrared camera, scanned snow-covered open land and forest preserves.
Police pleaded for help from anyone with information on the killing spree. Whatever leads they received, police were not saying Sunday afternoon.
Details about the victims, however, began to trickle out.
Police released a statement from Szafranski’s family, thanking those who offered their support.
“We ask that you keep Sarah and the other women who were killed in your prayers,” the family said, and asked for privacy as it grieved and dealt with the “senseless act of violence.”
“Our emotions are raw and we are still in shock,” the family said. “There is nothing adequate anyone can say at a time like this. Sarah was loved by all who knew her and we are counting on that love to sustain us while we mourn.”
McFarland’s father, Hilton Hamilton, said she had worked at Lane Bryant store for about a year. Prior to that, McFarland served as a nurse practitioner in the Air Force. Hamilton said his daughter was engaged to be married, and was active in her church.
“She was a people person,” Hamilton said. “She went out of her way to help people.”
Near Chiuso’s house in Frankfort, less than a mile from the Lane Bryant store, neighbors called the 33-year-old “bubbly,” the type of woman who was always smiling.
Family members have said Chiuso was a loving wife who dedicated her life to counseling teens. She graduated from Homewood-Floosmoor Community High School in 1993 and returned to her alma mater 10 years later as a social worker.
“The students trusted her,” said Patti Baldwin, who lives two doors down and worked at the high school for the past five years.
Other neighbors said Chiuso purchased her house in 2006, and was often seen working to improve it.
“She was always outside, planting flowers and working in the yard,” said Don Matysek, who lives across the street on Lakeside Drive. The neighborhood children liked playing with a new puppy bought by the couple. They decorated for every holiday and threw July 4th and Halloween parties for family and friends, Matysek said.
A spokeswoman for South Bend Memorial Hospital said Bishop was a registered nurse who had worked 13 years for the hospital.
“She was very well liked, very popular,” said Ruth Linster. “Her co-workers were tremendously upset when they heard the news. It’s such a shock. You don’t go shopping and expect anything like this to happen.”
Linster said Bishop’s co-workers were not sure why she was in Tinley Park over the weekend. She said some of Bishop’s colleagues heard news of her death while attending church Sunday morning. Word spread through the hospital later in the day. Bishop’s husband, Brian, declined to comment.
Woolfolk was a senior loan officer at Mortgages Etc in Hazel Crest, where she worked with her mother, Portia. She had two children, ages 16 and 10.
Family members said she had an appointment to do credit counseling with a client at 2 p.m. Saturday. Relatives said they knew something had gone terribly wrong when they heard she hadn’t shown up to work – then saw her car on the news.
“She was a good woman,” said Victor Rodriguez, her ex-husband. “She was ambitious, strong. He didn’t have to kill them.”
Outside the store Sunday afternoon, friends of the victims gathered alongside grief stricken strangers. Some prayed, others contributed to a growing memorial. Bouquets of flowers lay next to yellow police tape, which draped in front of the store. Plywood covered Lane Bryant’s front entrance as a suburban Cook County emergency operations command center vehicle was parked in front of the store Sunday morning.
Teams of firefighters and police officers cycled through Lane Bryant and neighboring stores in the strip mall. At one point a half dozen officers climbed onto the store’s roof, and a Thornton police detective and his dog circled the Lane Bryant store at around noon.
Two women from Tinley Park left flowers outside the Lane Bryant store. Neither Kim Schaafma nor Cindy Sorenson knew any of the five women who were shot to death, but they said it was important to honor the victims in some small way.
“For something like this to happen, it’s crazy,” said Sorenson, stopping before work at the Orland Square mall. “I’ve been in retail for 15 years … it’s like your home away from home.”
Charming Shoppes, Inc., which owns the Lane Bryant store, offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
“The employees of Charming Shoppes, Inc., and Lane Bryant are deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from this horrific incident,” the company said in a release. “We grieve for the innocent victims and our primary concern at this time is for the families and loved ones of those fatally injured.”
The company said all Chicago-area Lane Bryant stores were closed Sunday in mourning. At the Lane Bryant store in Aurora, a sign in the window read: “Being respectful of the tragedy that occurred in our Tinley Park Lane Bryant store on Saturday, we are closed today. We hope you are understanding of our decision.”
Tinley Park Mayor Edward Zabrocki said that starting Sunday, the village was lowering its flags to commemorate the victims. He said all flags on village property will remain lowered for five days, one day for each victim.
“The problem we have experienced here in Tinley Park is not just Tinley Park, but it’s the entire region,” Zabrocki said. “No community is immune to what can happen.”