A man and two women were shot inside a Bronzeville Jewel Osco Tuesday morning, leading shoppers to hide inside a freezer and at least one other person tumbling down stairs.
The attack began about 11 a.m. at the grocery store at 443 E. 34th St., when two people entered and took three bouquets of flowers and a greeting card that was on display, police said.
When the robbers tried to leave the store, a 46-year-old male security guard intervened, and one of the robbers fired a gun in his direction, hitting the man and two others nearby, police said.
Two of the wounded were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, including the security guard, who suffered gunshot wounds to his body. He was listed in serious condition.
A 29-year-old woman was shot in her left foot. She was in stable condition. A 67-year-old woman was grazed in her left foot and declined to be taken to a hospital, police said.
Two more injured people, both adults who fell, were taken to the same hospital in good condition, said Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Merritt.
As the situation unfolded, a police officer described the victims, who included at least one Jewel employee who fell down stairs and people who ran for cover in the store, to a police dispatcher over radio.
“We got two people shot and a female that’s grazed in the left foot,” the officer said.
“And someone fell down the stairs too, right?” the dispatcher asked an officer.
There are “people hiding in the freezer inside the store,” the dispatcher told an officer.
The shooter ran into a building in the 3300 block of South Rhodes Avenue after the attack, which may have started with an argument in the store, according to a dispatcher.
A cashier witnessed everything, according to another police officer.
Jewel customers ran from the store seeking safety after the gunfire. Two people ran into a nearby business, City Fashions, said store manager C.C. Coats, 62.
Some customer went to their cars and drove off, he said.
“Some were running, trying to hide,” he said.
It wasn’t long before about 20 police squad cars showed up, as well as five ambulances, and helicopters hovered overhead, he said.
The strip mall where the Jewel is located off Martin Luther King Drive is generally a peaceful area, Coats said.
“But some bad apples come here,” said Coats, who has managed the fashion store for 14 years.
Police had not reported any arrests as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Contributing: Tom Schuba