Police have released little information about the crime, including any detailed description of the suspect. The shooting appeared to be the result of a robbery attempt, police said.

The Tinley Park police department would not confirm news reports that a sixth woman was shot and survived the attack at strip mall southwest of downtown Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, citing unnamed sources, reported that a survivor was being treated at a hospital.

“This has been an extremely sensitive investigation,” police Chief Mike O’Connell said.

Police were still searching for a gunman Saturday evening.

The family of Carrie Hudek Chiuso, a Frankfort social worker, said she was one of the victims. Chiuso, who was in her early 30s, was in the store shopping.

“She is the most wonderful person, and that maniac took a piece of all of us,” said Jennifer Hudek, the victim’s sister-in-law.

Tinley Park police called the shooting a possible robbery at a 6 p.m. news briefing but offered few other details of the crime. Police still were not releasing the identities of the victims pending family notification.

Police described the suspect as an African-American man, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing between 230 and 260 pounds. He was wearing a black winter coat, a knit cap and dark jeans.

Five women were shot to death at a suburban Chicago clothing store in Tinley Park on Saturday, and police are still searching for a man they said fled the scene.

The victims were shot and killed at a Lane Bryant store at the Brookside Marketplace, police Sgt. T.J. Grady said. Officers found the victims inside after getting a 911 call around 10:45 a.m., Grady said.

Earlier, Grady said “the offender” had apparently left the cluster of stores off Interstate 80 in the suburbs southwest of downtown Chicago.

“No motive has been established,” Grady said. “Every store was immediately canvassed and a search by air too has given us every indication that the offender has left the scene.”

The store was open at the time of the shootings. Grady declined to say whether the victims were customers or employees. He gave no ages and said authorities are still trying to reach the victims’ families.