Tinley Park police released a composite drawing of the suspect in the shooting deaths of five women at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, Ill.
Story Created:
Feb 11, 2008 at 12:06 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Feb 11, 2008 at 12:10 PM EDT
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (AP) — Suburban Chicago police said a crime lab was evaluating "a large quantity" of evidence collected in water searches and at the scene of a Lane Bryant clothing store where five women were fatally shot and a sixth was injured.
Dive teams searched frozen ponds and streams for two days looking for potential evidence in the Feb. 2 shootings and attempted robbery in suburban Tinley Park, according to a statement released Saturday by Tinley Park Police Cmdr. Rick Bruno
Authorities also have searched roadsides and state highways.
The gunman was still at large Saturday.
"The crime lab continues to evaluate a very large quantity of evidence collected at the scene, and we continue to receive phone leads on the 24 hour Tip Hotline," Bruno said in the statement.
He said police have received more than 200 tips.
Police handed out flyers Saturday at the strip mall where the Lane Bryant is located seeking people who may have seen something on the day of the attack.
Killed in the shootings were: store manager Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind.
Mourners gathered Saturday for the funerals of three of the five slain women. More than 600 people attended services for McFarland at Word of Life Christian Center in Crest Hill.
"A precious person has been removed from our lives in a mysterious, unexpected, violent and horrible way," the Rev. Tim Bagwell said during the service. "At a moment like this, we would not be human if we didn't ask why."
Services also were planned Saturday for Szafranski and Woolfolk. The other two victims were mourned at services Thursday and Friday.
A sixth woman survived the attack during what investigators have called a botched robbery. She is being held in protective custody to ensure her safety, officials have said.
The Associated Press is not naming the woman because authorities have not confirmed the details. She released a statement through police earlier this week in which she called the women who were killed "five of the bravest women I have ever met."
Tinley Park police Saturday night released a composite drawing of the suspect based on the survivors' description. Authorities have described the gunman as a black man, between 5 feet 9 and 6 feet tall and between 200 to 230 pounds with thick braided hair and a receding hairline.
Bruno declined to give further information in the investigation.
Wednesday, Feb 27 at 1:03 PM Burnham wrote ...
This is not the first time this person has killed.He has killed many times before.It takes a cold blooded killer to kill 5 people in a robbery.Not his first robbery either.