1 KILLED IN SHOOTING IN ORLAND PARK MALL FOOD COURT
One man was killed and another was injured in a shooting Monday evening at a mall in south suburban Orland Park, police said.
The shooting happened about 6:45 p.m. at a lower-level food court at the Orland Square Mall near 151st Street and La Grange Road, according to authorities.
The shooter was still at large, according to Orland Park Deputy Police Chief Joseph Mitchell.
The slain victim was shot in the chest and staggered from the food court area to a nearby H&M clothing store, where he collapsed, according to Mitchell.
First responders were there within minutes, and the victim was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead, Mitchell said.
A bystander around 18 or 19 years old who was at the mall suffered a graze wound to the leg and was treated at a hospital in La Grange, Mitchell confirmed.
Mitchell said the deceased victim was a black man around 20 years old.
The family of the slain man had yet to be notified, so police were not releasing his identity yet, Mitchell said.
The suspected shooter is a 6-foot-1 black man, around 20 years old, wearing black clothing and blue jeans, police said.
“Our suspect is still at large,” Mitchell said. He fled the area heading east, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said police believe the shooting to be an isolated incident. “The individuals knew each other,” he said, citing preliminary information.
The mall closed after the shooting, and police located shoppers who “sheltered in place” inside stores and escorted them out, Mitchell said. Families searching for their relatives were told to go to Art Van furniture at 15080 S. La Grange Rd., where customers were taken from the mall.
Christina Pelc said she was working at Victoria’s Secret when the gunfire erupted.
“I was in back with my manager talking to her, and over our headset, we heard another associate yell ‘911, there’s a shooting at the mall,’” Pelc told reporters. “So we ran to the back; we gathered up our customers and we stayed in the back.”
Pelc said she heard about seven gunshots but didn’t see the shooting happen. Mitchell confirmed that officers found multiple shell casings inside the mall.
“I don’t really know how to feel,” Pelc said. “It was scary. We’re still really shaken up right now, and that’s just it.”
Earlier, some people at the mall reported on social media that they were locked in different areas of the mall after the shooting.
“I’m locked down in my stock room at work,” wrote one Twitter user.
One video posted to social media showed police helping someone on the ground at the mall. Other videos from the scene showed emergency personnel swarming the scene.