PHOTOS: Kohl's parking lot shooting
Gerald Chamberlain has been charged with theft and Robert Russell has been charged with attempted murder, retail theft and obstructing an officer. A third individual, the 52-year-old driver, is hospitalized.
A judge set Russell's bond at $400,000 and Chamberlain's bond at $100,000.
A Romeoville police officer shot a man and another officer was injured Thursday night while trying to prevent men from allegedly shoplifting at a Kohl's store in the southwest suburb.
Romeoville police say they got the call from Kohl's just after 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving about shoplifters in the store. Authorities say when they arrived at the store, they saw one man running out the front doors. Romeoville officers chased the man in the parking lot, but he jumped into a Pontiac Sunfire, police said.
That's when one of the officers jumped in after him, but the man closed the door on the officer's arm, police said, and the driver dragged the officer as he was partially inside the car. Police say a backup officer ordered the driver to stop multiple times, and when he kept going, the backup officer fired three to four shots toward the driver. The driver was struck once in the shoulder area, and at that time, the car came to a stop, police said.
"We then were able to arrest the driver and the passenger and arrested the third subject, who was still inside the store," said Romeoville Police Chief Mark Turvey.
"Definitely not something I expected tonight. [I was] just doing some light shopping, trying to get in the Black Friday spirit, buy a few things. A little shaken up, not bad or anything. I was within five feet of everything happening. It was very surreal," witness Phil Koster said.
A bullet hole was visible through the window of the Pontiac and shattered glass was all around. The Kohl's store on Weber Road was open when the incident happened and remained so Black Friday.
The driver has yet to be charged due to hospitalization, the passenger was Russell, and the suspect still inside the store was Chamberlain, police said. The police officer who was dragged was treated and released from the hospital. The driver's condition was not known immediately, but he was expected to survive.
Kohl's issued the following statement:
A police investigation is under way into this matter. We are cooperating with the authorities leading the investigation and are referring all media inquiries to police.
