The Nordstrom shooting that occurred inside a mall just off Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district terrified Black Friday shoppers, causing chaos in the area. According to police, the domestic-related Nordstrom shooting happened as a gunman shot a woman before turning the gun on himself about 8:30 p.m. Friday.
Terrified and shocked, the Black Friday shoppers fled the Nordstrom store off of North Michigan Avenue after the Nordstrom shooting left the gunman dead and a woman critically wounded.
According to news affairs spokesman Hector Alfaro, police received a call about the Nordstrom shooting, which took place in the cosmetics department on the store's second floor, around 8:30 p.m. on Friday.
MyFoxChicago.com reports that upon hearing gunshots from the Nordstrom shooting, shoppers became extremely scared that they dashed out of the store while their bags and coats got left behind.
John Escalante, chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department, said that the Nordstrom shooting gunman was a 31-year-old man who had been targeting his "girlfriend or ex-girlfriend," a seasonal employee in the cosmetics department.
The injured woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital after the Nordstrom shooting. Unfortunately, she had been listed in critical condition, according to Fox News.
"She was working up on the second floor when he approached her, fired one shot, which struck her," Escalante said on the scene of the Nordstrom shooting. "He then turned the gun to himself and shot and killed himself."
According to the Associated Press, the gunman in the Nordstrom shooting tragedy is either the woman's current or ex-boyfriend. He fatally shot himself and was found dead after police arrived, reports Gawker. Responders said the Nordstrom shooting gunman was already dead when they arrived.
A police report identified the gunman as Marcus Dee. He reportedly approached the woman at the store. They even spoke with each other before he took out a gun as the woman walked away from him. The Nordstrom shooting occurred as the man suddenly shot her in the head/neck area before he committed suicide and shot himself in the head.
Dee was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 10:23 p.m.,, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Witnesses say the crowded store at 55 E. Grand Ave. amongst the Shops at North Bridge mall on North Michigan Avenue, was hurriedly emptied of holiday shoppers after the Nordstrom shooting.
The Nordstrom store will be closed whole day Saturday, according to its website. Meanwhile, other stores in the shopping center are open Saturday.
"This is an active scene, an ongoing investigation, but again I can tell you it is domestic-related," said Escalante.
Court records say the Nordstrom shooting gunman had petitioned to have a temporary restraining order issued against the woman for stalking. That petition has gotten at long laswas denied by a Cook County judge last April, court records show.
According to the Nordstrom website, the store was scheduled to be open until 9 p.m. Friday. There were no other injuries of animals reported.
The Nordstrom shooting had no threat to customers or other employees, according to the AP.
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