Lane Bryant

Feb 2nd, 2008, 10:45am
Chicago, Illinois
Women’s clothing store Lane Bryant
Brookside Marketplace shopping centre in the southern suburb of Tinley Park
Five dead

Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor
Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest
Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort
Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet
Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind

Police have said a manager of the Lane Bryant store and four customers were herded into the back room and shot to death in a robbery attempt

The suspect was described as a black man with thick braided hair and a receding hairline, Sgt. T.J. Grady said Monday at a news conference. One braid was adorned with four light green beads and was hanging over the right side of his face at cheek level

5ft 9in tall and weighing 230 to 260 pounds, dressed in a black waist-length winter coat, a black cap (charcoal-gray knit cap) and black jeans (rhinestones on the back pocket)

St James Hospital spokeswoman Sherry Sissac confirmed that the facility received one female shooting victim on Saturday but declined to give further information

Relatives of the only survivor of a weekend shooting here that left five women dead inside a clothing store told a Kentucky newspaper that all of the women inside the shop had been bound and then shot in the back of their heads

The survivor (identified only as Martha) whose family said she was a 33-year-old part-time employee at the Lane Bryant store, was shot along with the rest. But the bullet went into her neck, missing vital organs, her mother told The Messenger, a newspaper in Madisonville, Ky.

The woman survived the attack by apparently moving her head just as the gunman was pulling the trigger

The other five victims were tied up and shot “execution-style” at close range, the source said. The wounded survivor made the 911 call that alerted police to the shootings

Police told Woolfolk’s relatives that “a small amount [of cash] and some valuables” were taken from the victims

Before he opened fire, the gunman covered some of his victims' faces, sources said Tuesday (Feb 5th)

Sources said Tuesday (Feb 5th) the gunman also made a sexual advance toward at least one of the women before opening fire

Police described the shooter as "probably a little pudgy."

Killer may have targeted store to avoid men, source tells Tribune

The killer carried a gun and duct tape, a law-enforcement source told the Tribune

“It’s not a robbery,” said Emmit Suddoth, 35, a cousin of Connie R. Woolfolk, who was among the dead. “I don’t care what anybody says.”