The driver of a kids' train, two off-duty police officers and other bystanders jumped into action to detain a man who drove a vehicle into Woodfield Mall in suburban Schaumburg on Friday, police said.
Chaos erupted at around 2:30 p.m. when the unidentified 22-year-old man drove his vehicle inside of the mall through the Sears' entrance. Three people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
There was no indication that the attack was pre-planned, according to Schaumburg police.
One witness said he was eating upstairs when the whole ordeal took place.
Lateef Farooqui said the driver was "like a pinball machine, running over kiosks, left right, left right."
An employee at a Sprint kiosk said he was standing at the kiosk when he heard a boom.
"It started rushing into different stores, coming toward me," Abram Taylor said. "Then straight towards my kiosk. At that time when he backed up, I took off running."
As NBC 5 interviewed multiple people outside Woodfield Mall on Friday evening, one man's name kept coming up. That man is the driver of the kids' train at the mall.
"He saved all the kids. How so? He saw the car coming. He took all the kids out and took them to safety... He's the real hero," said witness Liz Baker.
Taylor said Juan, the driver of the train, was telling everybody to get out of the way.
"I think with his communication, it saved a lot of lives," Taylor said. "He told people to get out of the way, and what was coming."
