TINLEY PARK, Ill. – Rhoda McFarland whispered a final one-word plea to 911 before she was discovered by the gunman robbing her suburban Chicago Lane Bryant store and he opened fire: "Hurry."
Tinley Park authorities said the 42-year-old store manager, who was among the five women bound and fatally shot on Feb. 2 in a botched robbery, called 911 on her cell phone from inside the women's clothing store.
The recording of the call, released Monday and partially aired on "America's Most Wanted" on Saturday, offered a glimpse into the ordained minister's final moments.
• Click here to hear a portion of the call from MyFOXChicago.com
• Click here for photos.
"Lane Bryant," McFarland whispers to the dispatcher.
"Where at?" the female dispatcher asks.
"Tinley Park," McFarland replies. "Hurry."
"Stay on the line. Stay on the line," the dispatcher instructs. "... Don't hang up."
Then the phone goes dead.
The gunman accused of killing the five women and injuring a sixth remained at large Monday evening.
Earlier in the day, authorities and church leaders gathered to ask for information leading to his whereabouts.
Church leaders, including the pastor of Full Gospel Christian Assemblies International church in Hazel Crest, offered prayers and pleaded with the gunman to turn himself in.
Tinley Park police said they have received over 600 tips on the gunman, described as a black man, 5 feet 9 to 6 feet tall and weighing 200 to 230 pounds with thick braided hair and a receding hairline.
Authorities have searched waterways, interstate highways and placed electronic billboards in the Chicago area with a composite sketch of the gunman.
Killed in the shootings were: McFarland, of Joliet; Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind.
A sixth woman, whom authorities have declined to name, was injured.
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