Security guard dies after being shot during robbery at River Oaks Center shopping mall in Calumet City
CALUMET CITY, Ill. (CBS) -- A security guard was shot multiple times and left to die on the floor during a robbery on Wednesday at River Oaks Center shopping mall in south suburban Calumet City.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, the crime was captured on horrific surveillance video. The assailants stepped right around the security guard and went on with the heist.
Meanwhile, the 57-year-old security guard likely never saw who shot him. The men rushed him quickly out of nowhere.
On Wednesday night, all three robbers were on the run and wanted for murder. New video posted to Facebook showed the moment the three armed men stormed into the jewelry store at River Oaks mall. The security guard was at the entrance of the store when the robbers ambushed him and immediately fired rounds.
The guard did not have time to react.
The three robbers then used their weapons to break a display case and steal jewelry. This all went down in under a minute.
As the robbers left the store, they stepped over the bleeding guard, and then ran out of the mall with the goods and those guns.
"It was just like, 'Pop, pop, pop, pop!'" said Feras Abusumayah, who was locked inside the mall. "Immediately like, we knew it was gunshots, and they closed the thing. We ran to the back."
It was unclear where or how many times the guard was shot.
The robbers took off running after shooting the guard, and fled the scene in a car. Police said the suspects fled with an unknown amount of merchandise.
Police were questioning witnesses and reviewing surveillance video from the mall in an effort to identify and track down the suspects, who fled the scene in a car, said Calumet City police Chief Kevin Kolosh.
Officers who responded to the shooting found the security guard lying on the floor, and immediately began performing CPR until paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital, according to Kolosh. Calumet City police confirmed the security guard later died at the hospital.
Kolosh said a second man, 81, suffered a minor hand injury, and was treated at the scene. It was not immediately clear how that person was injured.
The mall was locked down immediately after the shooting, and after police arrived on scene, they spent about an hour searching the mall for possible suspects before evacuating all patrons and employees. No one was in custody Wednesday afternoon, and the mall will remain closed until further notice, according to Kolosh.
CBS 2's Sabrina Franza spoke to an employee who works at the barber shop next door to the jewelry store. George Brown said he heard about 15 gunshots as his customers were waiting for service. He said everyone dropped to the ground and sheltered for safety before trying to leave.
The guard was alert when he was rushed out of the mall – catching shoppers coming to River Oaks by surprise.
"We did see him on the stretcher, and they had him on the stretcher kind of buckled down, getting him om the ambulance to take him to the hospital," said shopper Roben Hill.
The guard's injuries were too severe. He died hours later.
Brown said he's seen the security guard who was shot every day at work for the past two months, when that guard began working at the mall. He said he saw the guard on the ground before he left the mall.
Brown described the guard as a "really good-hearted person."
"Every morning he comes in, speaks, jokes, talks about sports. He was a good guy. He was a good guy," he said. "It's just heartbroken that that happened."
Tonya Davis, who was visiting the mall to get her nails done on Wednesday, said she heard several gunshots, and saw someone in a black hoodie shooting a gun inside the jewelry store.
"All of a sudden, the people, the rest of the owners, and the other lady, we just dropped down to the floor to take cover," Davis said. "All we was trying to do was get everybody to safety, and the owner was telling me 'Stay low, don't get up,' and then he said, 'call 911,' and I called 911."
Davis said once she got up from the floor, she could see the security guard lying on the floor, still breathing, as police officers were trying to perform CPR.
She said she feels "blessed" she wasn't hurt.
"I'm glad I'm in the land of the living, because it could have been much worse," she said.
Davis said she's praying the security guard survives.
Kolosh said approximately 20 Calumet City police officers were conducting a training exercise on the mall property at the time of the shooting, allowing for an immediate response to the shooting.
"Those officers were there within seconds," he said.
Calumet City spokesman Sean Howard said the mall has a history of safety and security issues, and its owners "have not been neighbor-friendly to the city of Calumet City."
Howard noted that Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, when he was elected last year, pledged to have the city take over the mall. The city also has asked the mall to install cameras and other security measures.
"The residents here have a very negative opinion of this mall. This mall has a very bad stigma attached, and the mayor has been firm," Howard said.
Calumet City officials have been in talks with the mall's owners for the past year to take over the mall "for a variety of reasons, but particularly for safety and security," Howard said.
"We are going to be steadfast in our quest to take over this mall, because these particular owners have not been very neighbor friendly to our residents, and we're going to do something about it," Howard added.
We are told the lockdown at the mall lasted just over an hour. For the majority of the day, the mall was shut down – but the anchor stores Macy's and JCPenney were open. It was not clear late Wednesday whether the River Oaks mall would be open in the morning.
But most importantly, Calumet City police are working diligently to find the three violent robbers.
