Police are asking the public to avoid a busy shopping center in Vernon Hills following a shooting that left a male victim wounded Thursday evening and a suspect at large.
The Vernon Hills Police Department and Countryside Fire Protection District responded around 6:50 p.m. Thursday to Hawthorn Hills Square Shopping Center, 700 Milwaukee Avenue, for a report of a shooting.
Officers responding to calls of shots fired found a victim injured near Liquor Barn.
Vernon Hills Deputy Police Chief Shannon Holubetz said the male victim suffered gunshot wounds.
Paramedics transported the victim to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
The Vernon Hills Police Department said on social media that the public to avoid the Hawthorn Hills Square Shopping Center on the southwest corner of Route 60 and Milwaukee Avenue due to the police activity.
Crime scene tape was set up around a portion of the shopping center parking lot as police investigated.
Holubetz said around 8:40 p.m. that the offender remains at large.
“Preliminary information suggests there is no ongoing threat to the immediate area,” he said.
A woman told Lake and McHenry County Scanner she was walking out of a nearby restaurant when the shooting happened.
She said she heard approximately eight shots and saw lots of police officers responding.
A man told Lake and McHenry County Scanner he was walking his dog when he heard seven to eight shots being fired followed by sirens a minute later.
The victim’s condition is unknown and police have not said whether any suspects are in custody.