Authorities responded to calls of shots fired at a Walmart Supercenter in suburban Bedford Park Tuesday evening, though officers found no victims or suspects and no injuries were reported.
A heavy law enforcement presence, including Chicago and Bedford Park police, descended on the shopping center located at 7050 S. Cicero Ave. just before 8:30 p.m. after receiving several calls of shots fired, according to a statement from Bedford Park Police Chief Tom Hansen.
Officers entered and conducted a search of the store to ensure there were no shooting victims inside and that there was not an ongoing active shooting incident, Hansen said.
They did not find any shooting victims or offenders inside the store or during a search of the surrounding area, according to police, who said a single shell casing was found near the intersection of Cicero Avenue and 71st Street, away from the building itself.
Some shoppers said that they believed they heard shots coming from outside the building in the parking lot, others were saying police were telling everyone at the Walmart to evacuate the building.
"Customers heard shooting in the parking lot, so the customers started running inside the store," Walmart employee Lorri Hill said.
"Once they started running inside the store, they said that someone was shooting out there in the parking lot so it alarmed everybody in the store so I heard that the managers started moving everybody to the back of the store," Hill continued.
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Customers were funneled to the back of the store until the scene was cleared, according to police. Employees were given the option to go home after the incident Tuesday night, but operations were expected to return to normal Wednesday.
"Everyone’s tensions are running high and we’re hoping that it is like it seems right now, maybe nothing," Hansen said.
The scare came just days two mass shootings just hours apart left dozens of people dead at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend.
