WEST LOOP — The West Loop Target was evacuated after the store's security suspected a shoplifter had a weapon, police said.
About 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the store at 1101 W. Jackson Blvd., store security saw a man shoplifting and attempted to stop him, said Officer Laura Amezaga, a Chicago Police Department spokeswoman. At that time, security noticed that the man had a "black and silver object" in the back waistband of his pants, she said, and promptly cleared the area of shoppers.
As the store was being evacuated, the shoplifting suspect ran off, police said.
Police did not know if the object store security saw was a gun, Amezaga said.
No one is in custody and no one was injured, Amezaga said.
A Target store manager confirmed the evacuation and said that the shoplifter threatened staff members, but declined to comment further.
Little Italy resident Laura Medina was in the store's parking lot when she saw people leaving the store "in a hurry."
"I tried to go in, but the people were saying [the store was] being evacuated because there was a guy with a gun on the upper level. No one knew anything else," Medina said. "The parking lot was full, and everyone was trying to get out at the same time. They were scared but not panicky."
Another witness was near the electronics aisle in the store when she said she saw customers running and someone shouting "that there was a person with a gun."
Outside, rows of cars tried to exit the store's covered parking lot, said the woman, a West Loop resident.
"People were just so frantic," the witness said.
