Nov. 14--A woman and her male cousin were wounded Thursday afternoon by a man who had kidnapped the woman's children and offered to return them in the parking lot of the Harlem-Irving Plaza mall in Norridge, police said.
Instead of handing over the children, the man opened fire in the parking lot around 1 p.m., according to authorities.
The woman, 29, was shot four times, in the head, the wrist and the shoulder, Norridge police Chief Jim Jobe said. Her cousin, 36, was shot in the groin, he said. The two were taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where their conditions were stabilized, Jobe said. They are expected to survive.
Two children, a boy and girl, who are 6 and 4, who were present were not harmed, Jobe said. The injured woman is their mother, Jobe said.
The gunman was arrested a short time later near Fullerton and Cicero avenues in Chicago, Jobe said. He is being questioned by police and no charges have been filed yet.
The incident began earlier Thursday when the man kidnapped the children and offered to "exchange" the children for the mother at the mall, a law enforcement source said.
When the man pulled up to the mall, he pulled out a handgun and opened fire, the source said, adding that the injuries were not considered life-threatening.
A mall spokeswoman said the incident was confined to the outside of the mall and shoppers were never in danger.
Ashleigh Faulhaber was working at the Gloria Jean's coffee shop inside the mall near the parking lot exit where the shooting occurred.
The 19-year-old said she didn't hear the shooting but was startled when she saw mall security personnel running out toward the parking lot.
Faulhaber said she didn't know if someone had stolen something or if there had been a mall shooting spree.
"I didn't know if someone was coming in with a gun," she said.
Then she saw through the glass doors leading to the parking lot that an ambulance had arrived.
She said employees were apprised of the situation after about 15 minutes but that there was no lockdown or any other action.
"I was a little scared," she said a few hours after the shooting. "This is something that usually doesn't happen here."
Ken Sieb was working a maintenance job in the mall parking lot when the shooting occurred.
He said he didn't hear any gunshots but saw a swirl of "commotion" and activity. But it wasn't frantic he said
"For a shooting I was surprised people weren't running," he said
He said three police squad cars came "flying up" very quickly after the shooting. He did not see the victims or the gunman.
Denise Somerlot was working at the mall Thursday and said that, inside after the shooting, "it was business as usual. Everything was calm."
