Police arrested a man suspected of shooting two people at a north suburban mall Thursday afternoon. The suspected gunman had allegedly kidnapped the children of one of the victims, who police say is his ex-girlfriend.
A 36-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were shot around 1 p.m. in a parking garage at the Harlem Irving Plaza at 4104 N. Harlem Ave. in Norridge, authorities said.
The victims were taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in stable condition, police said. The woman was shot four times, police said.
Authorities said the shooting was the result of a domestic incident. The gunman is the female victim's ex-boyfriend, Norridge Police Chief Jim Jobe said.
The suspect, 30, was taken into custody after the shooting and is expected to be charged, police said.
He had taken the woman's two children, a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old, but is not their father, police said. Authorities said the victims were meeting the gunman at the garage to get the children back, but instead of handing the children over, the gunman opened fire.
Police said the gunman left the children at the mall after the shooting and fled.
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The mall remained open following the incident, and "customers were never in danger," Jobe said.
"Nobody was running scared, but of course they were concerned because there were rumors about how and why the shooting occurred," said Denise Sommerlot, who works in the mall.
Police said a weapon was recovered from the scene but it was not clear if it was the one used in the shooting. It is the first shooting at the mall in more than 35 years, Jobe said.
Check back for more on this developing story.