River Oaks Mall business owners hold safety meeting after deadly shooting

CALUMET CITY, Ill. - With holiday shopping season about to kick into high gear, storeowners at a south suburban mall are calling for tighter security.

That plea comes in the wake of a double-fatal shooting.

It happened last month in the mall's parking lot and took the lives of two teenage boys.

“I remember bringing my sons here 20 years ago. The mall was packed. This was the place to come,” said Tonya Mahomes.

But recently, Mahomes and other tenants at River Oaks Mall in Calumet City say they've seen a major drop in business, especially in the weeks following an October 10 double-fatal shooting in the mall's parking lot that took the lives of two teenagers.

“Once something happens and you don't have a voice and you don't address it immediately, it's like with anything, it's going to just continue,” said River Oaks Mall tenant Allison Jordan. “And so we're here to put a tourniquet on it.”

On Thursday night, the storeowners hosted a town-hall style meeting at the mall to air security concerns and show unity following the shooting. They called for increased security during the holiday shopping season.

“We definitely need a bigger presence. Security not only inside, but also outside of the mall as well,” said mall tenant Mark Walker.

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Tenants also want mall management to update its safety plan.

“We have seen some change. There's a newsletter that was sent out to all the tenants that addressed every one of our issues, which is promising,” Jordan said.

The store owners who showed up to the meeting brought up an array of security concerns from poor lighting in the parking lot to a limited number of security guards on duty at any given time. The mall is under new ownership, and they were invited to the meeting but did not show up.