1 Killed- 1 Injured in Orland Square Mall shooting
Orland Park IL January 23 2019
One man was killed and another was injured in a shooting Monday evening at a mall in south suburban Orland Park, police said.
The shooting happened about 6:45 p.m. at a lower level food court at the Orland Square Mall near 151st Street and La Grange Road, according to Orland Park police.
The shooter was seen in an altercation with Javon Britten, 18, when he pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots, striking Britten in the chest and grazing a bystander’s leg, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
The gunman, who is believed to be a 20-year-old man, is still at large, according to Orland Park Deputy Police Chief Joseph Mitchell.
Britten staggered from the food court area to a nearby H&M clothing store, where he collapsed, officials said.
First responders were there in minutes and took Britten to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died, authorities said.
The bystander, who is believed to be a man between 18 and 19 years old, was treated at a hospital in La Grange, Mitchell said.
The suspected shooter is described as a 6-foot-1 black man who was seen wearing black clothing and blue jeans, police said. He fled the area heading east, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the shooter and victim knew each other, and that the shooting was an isolated incident.
The mall closed after the shooting and police located shoppers who “sheltered in place” inside stores and escorted them out, Mitchell said. Families searching for their relatives were told to go to Art Van furniture at 15080 S. La Grange Rd., where customers were taken from the mall.
Christina Pelc said she was working at Victoria’s Secret when the gunfire erupted.
“I was in back with my manager talking to her and over our headset we heard another associate yell ‘911, there’s a shooting at the mall,’” Pelc told reporters. “So we ran to the back; we gathered up our customers and we stayed in the back.”
Pelc said she heard about seven gunshots but didn’t see the shooting happen. Mitchell confirmed that officers found multiple shell casings inside the mall.
“I don’t really know how to feel,” Pelc said. “It was scary. We’re still really shaken up right now and that’s just it.”
Earlier, some people at the mall reported on social media that they were locked in different areas of the mall after the shooting.
“I’m locked down in my stock room at work,” wrote one Twitter user. “There’s an active shooter at Orland Park mall.”
One video posted to social media showed police helping someone on the ground at the mall. Other videos from the scene showed emergency personnel swarming the scene.
