Mar 14, 2008 6:32 pm US/Central
Police Release New Photos In Lane Bryant Shootings
Photos Came From Surveillance Camera At Target Store In Same Mall
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) ―
-
-
Tinley Park police released a new sketch on Saturday of the man believed to have shot five women to death in a Lane Bryant store on Feb. 2, 2008.
CBS
Six weeks after the massacre that left five women dead at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, police have released a picture they hope will be a critical clue in their search for the killer.
As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, the images released Thursday by Tinley Park police were captured by a surveillance camera from a Target store in the same strip mall -- the Brookside Marketplace at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue -- where the women were shot in the Feb. 2 robbery.
The images may not be crystal clear, but police believe they provide useful and crucial information.
Tinley Park police want you to focus on two cars parked outside the Lane Bryant store – a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle and a smaller sedan.
Almost three weeks ago, police released the original 911 call during the crime, placed by store manager Rhoda McFarland, who was later killed by the gunman. In the background of the call, the gunman's voice can be heard.
Killed in the shootings were: Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind.
For the relatives of McFarland, the Lane Bryant store manager, the investigation has produced only frustration.
"My hope is someone recognizes the vehicle or person and do the right thing -- they turn him in or he turns himself in," said McFarland's brother, Maurice Hamilton.
"Until we have someone that tells us, 'we've got him,' we're always gonna have that in our heads that he's out there somewhere," said Chiante Hamilton, McFarland's sister-in-law.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports McFarland tried to alert police with a 911 from her cell phone -- a selfless act that didn't surprise her loved ones.
"She took matters into her own hands and done what she had to do to save others," Maurice Hamilton said.
The loss of McFarland affected family members in countless ways. Her brother and sister-in-law shut down a small store they owned in Joliet, out of concern for the safety of employees.
"Me and my husband decided, let's close this," Chiante Hamilton said. "It's not worth it. It's not worth losing another life over."
Maurice Hamilton says he found his sister's Bible in her bedroom, opened to the 23rd psalm. That reassured him she was prepared for her attacker.
"Rhoda probably prayed for him before she was murdered," he said. "That's the kind of person she is."
A sixth woman, whom authorities have declined to name, was injured. She provided police enough information to come up with a composite sketch of the gunman, but he remains at large.
"It's quite possible the appearance of this criminal has changed since last Saturday," Tinley Park police Cmdr. Rick Bruno said Feb. 9. "We ask that anyone who may have been in the area of the Brookside Marketplace between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Feb. 2 to call the tip hotline." The hotline is at (708) 444-5394.
The time recorded on the grainy images released by police shows that the SUV and the sedan were parked in front of the store while the women were being killed, but left before police arrived.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley and Rafael Romo contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jewish Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
