Lombard police investigating report of shots fired near Yorktown Center shopping mall
LOMBARD, Ill. - Lombard police determined there was no active threat to the community after investigating a report of shots fired near the Yorktown Center shopping mall Friday.
Around 4:30 p.m., the Village of Lombard issued an alert on its social media platforms stating that officers were in the parking areas on the East side of the mall looking into the report of gunfire.
"I saw a lot of police officers, sirens, I didn’t know what was going on, I saw people running in the parking lot," said one man who asked not to be identified. "I was just like, wow, the holidays are coming, Black Friday is coming, it’s just scary."
Just weeks ahead of the holiday shopping rush, the scare sent some shoppers scrambling the suburban mall.
"People were just scared because they didn’t even know what was going on. I parked my car and I saw people leaving the parking lot speeding, because they were scared there was a shooting," said the mallgoer who told FOX32 Chicago that he had just arrived when he came across the commotion.
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Police determined there was no danger and no active threat to public, officials said.
The mall remained open and operations were uninterrupted during the investigation.
Police cleared the area around 6:40 p.m.
Officials have not offered any additional details about the incident.
In response to the investigation, Josh Dean, general manager of Yorktown Center released the following statement to FOX 32 Chicago on Friday evening:
"Thank you to the Lombard Police Department for their timely response to today’s isolated incident in the parking areas near Ring Road. The safety and security of our guests, employees and retailers remains our top priority. Police have determined that there is currently no danger or active threat to the public and operations at the mall are continuing uninterrupted. We will continue working with the Lombard Police Department regarding the ongoing investigation. For any additional questions or if you have any information regarding today’s incident, please contact Detective J. Chudzinski of the Lombard Police Department at 630-873-4491."