Filmmaker hopes new doc on 2008 Lane Bryant mass shooting spurs fresh leads
An upcoming documentary on the 2008 unsolved mass shooting at the Lane Bryant clothing store in Tinley Park aims to refocus attention on the tragedy that resulted in the deaths of five women in hopes that it will shake loose fresh information and lead authorities to the killer.
"I'm just trying to start some chatter here," said filmmaker Charlie Minn. "The whole point is to stir up enough attention, raise enough awareness, to solve the case."
Feb. 2 will mark the 18-year anniversary of the shooting.
“The Tinley Park 5” is slated to debut Feb. 13 for one-week runs at both the AMC River East theater, located near Navy Pier, and the AMC Crestwood theater in the southwest suburbs.
Minn, a former producer with "America's Most Wanted," said the film will not offer fresh information on the case and largely focuses on the impact the slayings had on family members of victims.
Minn used a boutique in Kankakee to stage a reenactment of the crime.
The list of people that he interviewed for the film includes victim relatives, a criminology professor, paramedics who were on the scene and a retired Chicago Police Department detective.
Notably absent is a representative of the Tinley Park Police Department, active or retired, who worked the case, as well as the lone surviving victim from the shooting.
Minn said efforts to reach the lone survivor, a female employee of the store who suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound to the neck, as well as attempts to get Tinley Park police to participate in the documentary or share any new information about the killings, have come up empty.
"Tinley Park police is just too tight-lipped," Minn said. "Nothing has worked in 18 years."
Messages left with the Tinley Park Police Department and Mayor Michael Glotz were not immediately returned.
The shooting, apparently the result of a botched robbery, unfolded after a gunman corralled six women in a back room and fatally shot five of them on Feb. 2, 2008, at the store in the Brookside Marketplace near 191st Street and Harlem Avenue.
The victims were 37-year-old Connie R. Woolfolk of Flossmoor; 22-year-old Sarah T. Szafranski of Oak Forest; 33-year-old Carrie A. Chiuso of Frankfort; 42-year-old Rhoda McFarland of Joliet; and 34-year-old Jennifer L. Bishop of South Bend, Indiana.
On Feb. 11, 2008, Ann Lieber of Mokena places flowers on the growing memorial outside the Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. Lieber said she had no personal connection to the five women who were shot to death, but she just wanted to say a prayer and show that she was thinking about them.
Sun-Times file
An original sketch of the gunman based on the survivor's eyewitness account was updated using 3D-modeling techniques and re-released by Tinley Park police in 2018.
The shooter was described as a man with medium-to-dark skin tone between 6 foot and 6 foot 2 with broad shoulders and a husky build, police said. At the time of the shooting he appeared to be between 25 and 35 years old.
The shooter’s voice can be heard on a recording of the 911 call for the shooting, which is available on the Tinley Park Police Department's website or by calling (866) 853-6222.
According to the police department's website, a $100,000 reward has been established for information leading to the arrest of the gunman. The reward is not dependent on a conviction, and any information will be kept confidential.
Minn, who is from New York City, specializes in true-crime documentaries. His many films include documentaries on the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the Orlando nightclub shooting and the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
"This case has faded, people are busy, they move on," Minn said. "I hope people see this and become as angry as I am about what happened."
Anyone with information about the case can call the tip line at (708) 444-5394 or email lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org.