Photo Credit: USA Today
Imagine going to the mall and seeing a car fly past you. Well that happened today in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois where someone decided to turn Sears into a drive-thru and play pinball with the kiosks in the mall. On the bright side of things, that’s probably the most traffic and excitement the Sears had seen all year. Anthony Uchick said he was shopping with this mother when the vehicle came careening through the storefront and went straight through the shopping mall. He said it left Sears, drove into Forever 21 and headed towards Macy’s where the driver was then taken into custody. No word on whether any of the three stores provided them with window service. We’re guessing not.
Lateef Farooqui had prime seating during the event watching from the food court on the second floor as the melee ensued one floor below him. “Yeah, it was like a pinball going right to left,” he said. “I don’t know if it was like an anger issue going after Forever 21, but that one was the most obvious one he went through. And then he backed out of there and then moved to the complete opposite side.”
The driver was apprehended in a tea shop in the mall. And to think, if the driver didn’t have a taste for chai they just might have gotten away with it. “They brought him into my store and apprehended him in the store,” Robert Fakhouri, an employee of the tea shop. “I’m not sure if it’s because of the space inside and they had room and they were able to sit him down, or what happened.” Fakhouri described the driver as a young man in his 20s who didn’t resist arrest and answered all law enforcement questions with yes and no answers. He said he appeared coherent and showed no remorse or emotion. He also gave no explanation for why he did what he did. Considering most malls are rather dead these days, maybe he was expecting light traffic where he wouldn’t have caused that much of a disruption.
There were additional reports of a shooting but that’s been dispelled as untrue and a statement from mall officials went as follows: “The authorities believe this to be an isolated incident involving one person who has been arrested. We are grateful no one was injured, and thank our security team and the police for their quick response.”
So this just happened at Woodfield. I’m safe. Jesus Christ pic.twitter.com/fOfhtPkWvr
— ronin (@nipsfalloff) September 20, 2019
Woodfield Mall. Great job law enforcement. pic.twitter.com/MjVTlZaTqw
— OTC Skull and Bones (@10baggersallday) September 20, 2019
#Schaumburg: An SUV has driven through the Sears storefront at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. A suspect has been taken into a custody. The mall is on lockdown. – CBS Chicago/FOX 32 pic.twitter.com/uKNwxlUudv
— I.E.N. (@BreakingIEN) September 20, 2019
