4 Injured After Suspects Exchange Gunfire at Oakbrook Center – Oak Brook mall shooting. Two nights before Christmas, gunfire erupted at one of the Chicago area’s most popular shopping malls, leaving four people shot and throngs of holiday shoppers and store employees running for cover.
4 Injured After Suspects Exchange Gunfire at Oakbrook Center – Oak Brook mall shooting:
4 injured in a shootout between 2 people; police were searching the mall for a possible 3rd suspect, One person is in custody.
A shooting at Oakbrook Center mall injured 4 people and prompted a massive police response Thursday night. 1 person is in custody, police said.
People posted to social media that they were locked down inside stores at the mall for the reported shooting.
Outside the mall, police cars, fire trucks and ambulances seemed to surround just about every exit.
The outdoor mall is located at 100 Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. Late Thursday, it was announced the mall would be open on Friday — Christmas Eve.
Oak Brook mall shooting: 4 shot inside Oakbrook Center, 1 in custody, police say:
Oak Brook police provided additional updates on the shooting at Oakbrook Center mall that injured 4 Thursday evening.
Shots were fired about 5:45 p.m. Thursday at the Oakbrook Center shopping mall. Oak Brook Police Chief James Kruger said two men apparently got into a gunfight in an outdoor corridor near the Ann Taylor and Nordstrom stores.
One of the men was wounded and taken into custody and transported to a hospital, he said. The other gunman was still being sought.
Police said two people were exchanging gunfire with each other in a corridor area in the east part of the mall adjacent to Nordstrom.
‘No Way This Is Actually Happening:’ Shoppers Recount Moments After Shots Fired at Oakbrook Center:
One of the eyewitnesses said,
“It was crazy,” said Camila Reyes, shopper and witness.
“It was a lot of shooting. It was a lot of shooting, it was so loud. I was in Nordstrom but I ran; I was getting out of the store and just ran to another store.”
Witnesses describe shooting at Oakbrook Center,
4 people shot, one shooter at large after a gunfight in Oakbrook centre:
Four people were injured by gunfire, police said. One of those people is believed to be one of the suspects involved in the shootout. Police said they believe the other three were also struck by gunfire.
Three women who were bystanders were also hit and taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
After the shooting, 100 police officers were at the mall, he said, including SWAT teams, going store to store to look for the other shooter.
4 Shot At Oakbrook Center; 1 Suspect Possibly At Large:
Police cleared the mall store by store, investigating the possibility that a third suspect may still be at large. Police said he was wearing a blue puffy coat.
Police said the suspected shooter is a man in his 30s, who was struck multiple times and underwent several surgeries at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
The other three shooting victims are two women in their 40s and one woman in her 20s. Each of them was struck once.
All gunshot victims have non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Additionally, a woman in her 20s twisted their ankle fleeing the shooting and was taken to be treated for a fractured ankle at Elmhurst Hospital.
“Everybody was panicking,” said Diane Sprague, witness.
“We tried to keep everyone calm and safe: stay away from the windows. We locked the doors, stayed away from the back door. We gave people some water to calm people down. There were children, elderly people. Make sure everybody was not injured.”
Another man was taken into custody after running into the Nordstrom and attempting to flee, police said. Police said they believe he was the companion to one of them involved in the shootout.
Two weapons were recovered. Both are pistols, police said, including a 9mm. But witnesses told them they heard as many as 15.
Despite the initial panic of the shooting, the pervasive mood of the scene after the shooting was calm, with police working methodically and shoppers generally waiting patiently for their turn to leave.
Kruger said police had increased their presence at the shopping centre after a well-publicized looting incident in recent weeks.
Kruger called the shooting a,
“very unfortunate incident that is just completely out of character for our area. A lot of people fled.”
Earlier, at 6:30, an Oak Brook dispatcher had said,
“All we can say is avoid the area. The mall is on lockdown.”
Some people were still in those stores hiding, the chief said at a news conference about 8 p.m.
“We believe at this time there are still many patrons that may have been in some of the stores that are in backrooms with the employees,” he said.
“Tonight’s isolated incident is extremely upsetting for our shopping centre community,” Lindsay Kahn, a spokeswoman for mall owner Brookfield Properties, said in a statement. “We are grateful to our partners at the Oak Brook Police Department for their diligence in leading this developing investigation.”
Brookfield Properties, part of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, also manages and operates Water Tower Place and Northbrook Court.
The company acquired Chicago-based retail giant General Growth Properties in 2018.
Speaking at a news conference with the police chief, DuPage County Commissioner Peter DiCianni promised stern justice for the gunmen.
” I can tell you that these offenders, speaking on behalf of our state’s attorney, will be fully prosecuted,” he said. “We need to send a message that we don’t tolerate this kind of crime in our county.”
Oakbrook mall witnesses:
Kellie Courtney, of Willow Springs, was in the mall’s food court with two friends when someone rushed in to say there had been a shooting. The trio huddled with others near the area reserved for employees.
”We were just hiding in the back waiting to hear something,” she said later in the mall’s parking lot. “We were waiting to hear from the news or the police that it was OK to evacuate.”
”It was very scary,” said her friend, Justice West, of Lansing. “We were there for an hour. It was a long time.”
DuPage County board member Pete DiCianni said he was shopping nearby at the time of the shooting and saw the police response.
He said he was told by his family who is locked down at the mall that the shooting happened just outside the Nordstrom store at the mall.
Witnesses said the mall was crowded with last-minute Christmas shoppers at the time of the shooting.
Family members rushed to the mall to meet their loved ones as soon as the lockdown is lifted, though police have not said how long that will take.
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The last time there was a shooting at Oakbrook Center was nine years ago, Oak Brook police said when a security officer opened fire during a confrontation.
Anyone with information should email [email protected] or call 630-368-8732.
