Shooting at Chicago area shopping mall kills 1, wounds teen

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — A masked gunman opened fire in a suburban Chicago shopping mall, leaving one man dead and wounding at least one other person — a teenage girl who was found in washroom after shoppers ran for cover, police said.

The gunman, in his mid-20s, opened fire just after 7 p.m. Friday near the food court at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont, a village just northwest of the city, Rosemont Police Sgt. Joe Balogh told the Chicago Tribune on Saturday. Police did not release a motive for the shooting but said it was a targeted attack.

The gunman then fled in a car with “other unknown subjects, he said.

More than two hours after the shooting, police stopped that vehicle on an expressway in Chicago, Balogh said. The car’s owner was taken into custody and was being questioned as a person of interest, he said. A gun was seized as evidence, but no charges have been announced.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the man who died as Joel Valdes, 20, of Skokie.

A 15-year-old girl who was shot in the right wrist was in stable condition, Balogh said.

Officials said earlier that a third person was shot and ran away, but Balogh said no other victims had been found as of Saturday afternoon.

After the shooting, authorities evacuated and searched the mall.

Luis Elijio said he and his family, including his 5-month-old daughter, were shopping at a store in the mall when a women opened the store’s doors and screamed, “They’re shooting!” An employee locked the doors and people inside retreated to the back of the store, Elijio said.

“And right after that I heard what sounded like an automatic weapon,” he said while recovering with his family in the lobby of the nearby Crowne Plaza hotel.