'Five shot' in US shopping centre

[[R_H]]

BBC

Five people have been shot at a shopping centre in the US city of Chicago, authorities say.

Local media quoted police as saying four people had been killed in the shooting, in the southern suburb of Tinley Park.

The incident happened at about 1045 (1645 GMT) in Lane Bryant clothing store, in Brookside Marketplace shopping centre.

A suspect in the shooting is reported to have fled the scene.

[Big Orange]

ZOMG! More random, unathorized shootings in a country where they sell lethal fire arms as widely available consumer products!

[Glocksman]

ZOMG! More random, unathorized shootings in a country where they sell lethal fire arms as widely available consumer products!

Given that this is in a Chicago suburb and Illinois has tight (by US standards) gun laws, I doubt that he bought it legally.

However I could be wrong, so we'll just have to wait and see.
For the record though, I own 12 firearms (5 rifles and 7 pistols) and have yet to shoot anyone.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Chicago has gun laws virtually as tight as those of the UK, and rarely do shooters drive for miles and miles to conduct their attacks.

[Adrian Laguna]

The problem is that guns don't spoil if you put them in storage. You could put a nationwide side-arm ban across the entire United States tomorrow and in 20 years you'd still have random shootings (though less of them). Gun control is a lot easier when guns ownership was never a widespread thing in the first place.

[Davey]

Oh boy, can you hear that?

*puts one hand to ear and motions briefly for quiet*

That rushing roar you hear is the sound of politicians racing to be the first to grandstand in the wake of tragedy.

[[R_H]]

Update, again from BBC

Five women have been shot dead at a shopping centre in the US city of Chicago, local police have said.

The incident happened at the Brookside Marketplace in the suburb of Tinley Park, police Sergeant T J Grady said.

Sgt Grady said officers found the victims inside a Lane Bryant clothing store shortly after receiving an emergency call at 1045 (1645 GMT).

A suspect in the shooting is reported to have fled the scene. Police have yet to establish a motive for the attack.

Witnesses said that following the incident police shut down nearby shops and searched the area with their guns drawn.

"Every store was immediately canvassed and a search by air, too, has given us every indication that the offender has left the scene," Sgt TJ Grady told reporters.

He said police were looking for a black man about 5ft 9 inches tall and weighing 230 to 260 pounds, dressed in a black waist-length winter coat, a black cap and black jeans.

The Lane Bryant shop was open at the time of the shootings, but Sgt Grady refused to say whether the women killed were customers or staff.

He said that the authorities are still trying to contact the victims' families.

All the victims were female and were found in that one store

[Raw Shark]

He said police were looking for a black man about 5ft 9 inches tall and weighing 230 to 260 pounds, dressed in a black waist-length winter coat, a black cap and black jeans.

Only when we fully accept cross-dressing in our society will plus-size drag queens stop feeling like they have to rob Lane Bryant and kill all the witnesses to get something nice to wear and cover the secret shame.

[Havok]

Oh boy, can you hear that?

*puts one hand to ear and motions briefly for quiet*

That rushing roar you hear is the sound of politicians racing to be the first to grandstand in the wake of tragedy.

I don't think 5 people at once even registers anymore.

[[R_H]]

Another Update

Police search for Chicago gunman

Police in the US city of Chicago are searching for a man who shot dead five women in a suburban shopping centre during an apparent botched robbery.

The gunman killed the women, including at least one employee, in the back of a clothes shop in Tinley Park, Illinois.

Police, with guns drawn, combed stores in the Brookside Marketplace looking for a suspect, but he escaped.

A helicopter equipped with infrared sensors also scoured the area but failed to find the fugitive.

Police Sergeant T J Grady said officers discovered the victims at the back of a Lane Bryant clothing store shortly after receiving an emergency call on Saturday morning. "The motive in this case was robbery and at some point things went rather poorly," Sgt Grady told reporters.

"Every store was immediately canvassed and a search by air, too, has given us every indication that the offender has left the scene," he added.

He said they were hunting a man - described as black, stocky and about 5ft 9in (1.75m) - who an onlooker reported seeing leaving the shop.

The store did not have its own security camera but investigators were said to be checking CCTV footage from surrounding shops and buildings.

The Lane Bryant shop was open at the time of the shootings and the victims ranged in age from aged 22 to 37, police added.

A relative of Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort, Indiana, told the Chicago Tribune she was one of those killed.

"She is the most wonderful person, and that maniac took a piece of all of us," her sister-in-law, Jennifer Hudek, told the newspaper.

All the victims were said to be residents of the suburban Chicago area, apart from one woman who was from South Bend, Indiana.

[Death from the Sea]

Oh boy, can you hear that?

*puts one hand to ear and motions briefly for quiet*

That rushing roar you hear is the sound of politicians racing to be the first to grandstand in the wake of tragedy.

I don't think 5 people at once even registers anymore.

on a slow news day it would, but there are "important" election things to cover instead....