Feb 4, 2008 6:29 pm US/Central
New Details Emerge As Tinley Park Victims Mourned
5 Women Killed In Apparent Robbery Attempt At Lane Bryant
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) ―
Authorities hope a survivor's story will help them find the person responsible for five murders in a Tinley Park store.
Police gave very little information about the investigation at a 4 p.m. news conference Tuesday, but did provide a more detailed description of the gunman. They say he's a stocky black man between 25 and 35 years old, was wearing jeans with rhinestones on the back pockets. He was clean shaven and had thick braids.
"Witnesses were able to provide the fact that he had one braid laying over the right side of his face at cheek level," said Tinley Park Police Chief Michael O'Connell. "The braid had four light green beads on the end of the braid and the braids on his head appeared to be pulled straight back under the cap he was wearing."
The shooting at the Lane Bryant store has shocked the community. The memorial outside Lane Bryant grew larger Monday, with area residents stopping to convey their condolences.
A Kentucky newspaper reports a sixth woman survived the attack. The 33-year-old woman worked weekends at the store. According to the Messenger newspaper in Madisonville, Ky., she was shot in the neck and was able to call for help. She was treated and released from an area hospital, according to her parents, who live in Kentucky.
Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki confirms the woman is cooperating and is under police guard.
Investigators at the scene carefully combed the parking lot Monday, and sprayed the snowpiles with water.
Victims Mourned By Family, Community Sheila McMullen works nearby. "My heart came out," she said. "I just want to bring them something, just to say, I'm sorry. I am truly sorry."
She brought white roses to place in front of the crosses that have been erected in a snowbank.
Beverly Christian was still coming to terms with the fact her friend Rhoda McFarland was gone. McFarland managed the Lane Bryant store; she was one of five women gunned down Saturday morning during an apparent robbery. Friends say she had come in on her day off, just to help out.
"Oh my God, it's just all I could think about all weekend. I tried to watch TV, I tried to rent a movie. I can't stop thinking about her, that's the impact she left on me," Christian said. "She was just wonderful, so sweet … a very friendly, wonderful girl."
"You never saw her frowning, you never saw her mad at anyone," said Shatondra Sams. "She was just a wonderful person."
"What I remember about my sister is a compassionate, loving, caring person," said Maurice Hamilton. "She would give you the shirt off her back, the dollar out of her pocket."
McFarland's coworkers were among the many friends and relatives adding teddy bears and flowers to the growing makeshift memorial to the women.
Like McFarland, all the victims had someone who cared about them. Jennifer Bishop 34, of South Bend, Ind., was a part-time nurse in the intensive care unit at Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Ind. Nursing supervisor Nancy Pemberton called Bishop, "An exceptional human being and a wonderful nurse and a wonderful mother." Bishop was shopping at the store while her husband attended a conference in Chicago.
Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor, was a mother of two boys and worked as a real estate broker. "She was just a loving person who would help anybody," her father Melvin Woolfolk said. "She was a lovely person."
Her family said she was at the store shopping for a new outfit for a party.
"She just lived an everyday, simple life, raising her children," said her sister, Arifah Woolfolk. "Just to go into a store, to get something to wear, to have this happen is just shocking."
Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest, was a paralegal. Her family said in a statement that they are in shock and their emotions are raw. Fresh out of college, she was shopping for an outfit to wear to her new job.
Tom Phelan knew her well; she dated Phelan's son.
"She was sweet, kind to everyone, never hurt anyone," he said. "She was just… my son loved her a lot."
Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort, was a 1993 graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, where she was a social worker. Grief counselors were at the school Monday morning. A spokesman said, "She worked with kids day in and day out. She was adored by her students and respected by her peers. It's a really tough situation inside school today."
"She was very helpful, very sweet. She was beautiful. Very pretty and intelligent," said the victim's friend Emily Franz.
She was at the Lane Bryant to buy a new outfit to wear to a gathering of old college friends.
Police continued to search for the gunman and residents hoped they find him soon.
"It makes me afraid that this neighborhood that is so up and coming is vulnerable to anything," said Tinley Park resident Emily Franz.
Tinley Park Police Sgt. T.J. Grady said a second witness has come forward with a description of the suspect's vehicle. Grady said the car is red, which will allow police to better analyze surveillance video, and perhaps enhance a license plate.
Police are reviewing surveillance videos from several stores at the strip mall, but unfortunately the Lane Bryant store where the women were killed did not have any cameras.
Lane Bryant's parent company, Bensalem, Pa.-based Charming Shoppes Inc., was offering a $50,000 reward for information that could lead investigators to the gunman. Will County Crime Stoppers were also offering a $5,000 reward.
The shooting happened just before 11 a.m. A gunman took the women into a back room at the Lane Bryant store, where he shot them.
Grady said, "The motive in this case was a robbery ... at some point it went rather poorly."
Flags were flying at half-staff at the shopping center on Monday and the store remained closed.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum, Dorothy Tucker and Kristyn Hartman, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages 
Slideshow: The Rise Of Barack Obama Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now Slideshow: World's Most Bizarre Deaths Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
