Feb 12, 2008 10:46 pm US/Central
Officer Was At Mall When Tinley Park Killer Struck
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Tinley Park Police provided a composite sketch of the Lane Bryant shooter Feb. 9, 2008.
CBS
A Tinley Park police officer came within seconds of catching the brutal gunman responsible for the Southland's worst ever mass murder, it emerged Tuesday.
Seven electronic billboards scattered in high-traffic areas throughout the suburbs feature 10-second displays with the sketch and description of the gunman wanted for the murder of the five women 10 days ago.
Authorities confirm that a Tinley Park police officer may have been just 200 yards away as the women were being executed. Police Chief Michael O'Connell would not identify the officer.
He was parked right outside the Super Target a few doors south of the store, where the gunmen had forced the women into the back room.
Authorities Tuesday night confirm that a 911 call from one of the victims, store manager Rhonda McFarland, went from Tinley Park, to Will County Sheriff's headquarters in Joliet, then back to Tinley Park Police.
That routing, routine for 911 calls in the area, they say, was nearly instantaneous; it took barely a minute to dispatch the officer from the parking lot, and another minute for him to get inside the Lane Bryant.
But in those two minutes, police say, the shots were fired and the gunman escaped, leaving five of six women inside, dead.
The officer did not hear the shots fired, O'Connell said, adding that he was not clear exactly where the officer had been in the lot when the murders took place.
But the extremely tight timing involved - the killer did not start shooting until after the 911 call was completed - taken together with the layout of the Brookside Marketplace mall, which has only two exits, mean the killer almost certainly saw the cop's squad car as he fled, even if the cop did not see him.
There is no indication that the routing of the 911 call delayed the response of the officer who was so close to the crime scene. Police say they're still looking at it, but are more focused on their continued search for the gunman.
As the killer spent his 11th day on the run Tuesday, the team of 50 officers hunting him unveiled roadside billboards showing an artist's impression of his face, urging new witnesses to come forward and continuing to chase down tips.
But Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki said that security tapes from the mall had not produced good information.
He added that the officer was parked in front of Target and was at Lane Bryant within two minutes of McFarland's desperate call, which police sources say sent the killer over the edge.
O'Connell later confirmed the mayor's account.
"We don't know the precise timing yet and to be honest we are more focused on getting back forensic test results," O'Connell said.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
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