CHICAGO – Five women were shot to death Saturday in what police are calling a botched robbery in a Lane Bryant store in a Tinley Park, Ill., shopping center.

Police were still searching for a gunman Saturday evening.

The family of Carrie Hudek Chiuso, a Frankfort, Ill., social worker, said she was one of the victims. Chiuso, who was in her early 30s, was in the store shopping.

“She is the most wonderful person, and that maniac took a piece of all of us,” said Jennifer Hudek, the victim’s sister-in-law.

Tinley Park police called the shooting a possible robbery at a 6 p.m. news briefing but offered few other details of the crime. Police still were not releasing the identities of the victims pending family notification.

Shots erupted at Lane Bryant, a women’s clothing store, in the Brookside Marketplace shopping center in Tinley Park, officials said. Tinley Park police received a call at 10:44 a.m. reporting multiple gunshot victims inside the store, police said.

“Responding units entered the store and discovered multiple victims who’d been shot and killed,” Tinley Park Police Sgt. T.J. Grady said at a news conference about 2 p.m.

The offender fled the area after the shooting.

Will County State’s Atty. James Glasgow headed to the scene Saturday afternoon to discuss the case with his top criminal prosecutor, who was there talking to officials.

Police described the suspect as an African-American man, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing between 230 and 260 pounds. He was wearing a black winter coat, a knit cap and dark jeans.

Grady said a police canvass and helicopter search had “given us every indication that the offender has fled the scene.”

The shopping center, which is just south of Interstate Highway 80, includes a SuperTarget, a Best Buy and several restaurants surrounding a large parking lot.

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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): MALLSHOOTING

AP-NY-02-02-08 2015EST