A man found dead at Westfield Old Orchard Mall in north suburban Skokie was fatally shot, according to police.
Eric P. Cybak, 34, was discovered Saturday in a parking garage at the shopping center, located in the 4900 block of Old Orchard Road, Skokie police said in a release.
Around 1:33 p.m., a mall employee called 911 to report an "unresponsive male," Skokie police spokesman Eric Swaback said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.
Emergency personnel from the Skokie Police and Fire Departments responded to the mall, where Cybak, of Chicago, "was found bleeding from his head on the ground in one of the parking structure stairwells," Swaback said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office is conducting an autopsy, according to police, with preliminary results indicating that Cybak died of multiple gunshot wounds.
His death was ruled a homicide.
Officials did not have a timeline or information on how long his body had been in the stairwell, which was cordoned off for several hours as detectives and evidence technicians processed the scene.
The investigation indicates that the homicide was not random, authorities said Sunday, and that Old Orchard was not specifically targeted as a location for the crime.
According to police, there is no threat or safety risk to the general public or patrons of the shopping center, which remains open.
The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force is assisting the Skokie Police Department with the ongoing investigation.
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Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact police at (847) 982-5900 or text the 24-hour Skokie Crime Tip Hotline at 847/933-TIPS (8477).
