Shoppers and store employees at Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie got a scare, and went on lockdown, Tuesday afternoon after Skokie police responded to a report of a person with a gun.
Police said just before 6 p.m. that their preliminary investigation determined a dispute occurred between two individuals. They located and detained both of them as part of their investigation, they said in a news release.
Police had emailed out an alert about 2:50 p.m. July 29 advising people to avoid the mall due to police activity.
“Once the police investigation confirmed that there was no further threat, and that there were no injuries or gunshots fired as part of the incident, the lockdown for the mall was lifted,” police said in the statement.
They sent out that all-clear in an email around 3:45 p.m.
Mall employees acted quickly after they got the initial advisory.
“We got an alert from the mall, and we shut the doors and hid in the back,” said Wiktoria Dzieza, who was taking orders at Cafe Castemila in the mall after the lockdown was lifted.
The Skokie Fire Department said the department sent a fire crew and battalion chief to the scene.
Niles North High School sits across a parking lot from the mall, and Principal Marlon Felton emailed a letter to the high school’s students, families and staff shortly before 4 p.m.
“There was no immediate threat to the school, but we took precautionary measures in cooperation with the Skokie Police Department,” Felton wrote in his letter. “At 3:45 p.m., the Skokie Police Department informed us that the lockdown at Old Orchard Mall had been lifted. Niles North has been given clearance to resume normal activities.”
After the all-clear, the large, upscale mall remained quiet. The Swarovski store in the mall displayed a sign saying they had closed for the day due to the incident, and Sephora, Starbucks and Bath and Body Works, among others, were also closed.
A male employee working on the first floor of the L.L. Bean store, who declined to give his name, said the store locked its doors after it got an alert from the mall, though it let customers out if they chose to go. It reopened after the mall advised that the lockdown was over. At 5 p.m., there were no customers in the store.
Only a few customers were walking around the mall.
Skokie police said they are investigating the incident and asked anyone with further information to call (847) 982- 5900.
