[thewebcount]

> There was also a big mall a bit south (I forgot the name) , very much different from the ones we had at home (staring with the fact that you drove around the mall, and not walked inside.

I'm not sure what you mean. While Woodfield has a rather large parking lot, it was definitely the case that the vast majority of people parked and went inside. You couldn't get to the Apple Store, for example, without going inside. You could get to the anchor stores on the ends from the outside, but you'd often shop there, then go into the mall to get other things. (Or at least my spouse and I did that frequently.)

[astronautjones]

> "On September 20, 2019, at around 2:30 PM CDT, a man drove a black first generation (2001-2008) Chevrolet TrailBlazer LT through an entrance door of Sears and began driving through the store and into the main concourse of the mall, crashing into kiosks, Clarks, International Diamond Company, and multiple other stores, seemingly targeting Forever 21 and other adjacent stores.[40][41] The driver was taken into custody by responding police near the center of the mall's first level without further incident. The identity of the suspect was not immediately released. No injuries were reported, but the mall was temporarily on lockdown due to the incident as well as concurrent, but unfounded, reports of an active shooter.[42][43] The mall was evacuated about one hour after the incident.[44]

The man, later identified as Javier Garcia of Palatine, Illinois, was charged with terrorism as a result of the incident; he appeared in court on September 29, 2019, and was denied bond. He appeared in court again on October 1, 2019, and was due back in court on January 27, 2020.[45][46][47][48][49] Garcia's family spoke out arguing that Javier is not a terrorist and that he has schizophrenia, though a police investigation shows evidence that Garcia's attack was premeditated, with investigators releasing – in part – that Garcia "searched 'Woodfield mall,' the aerial view of the mall and mall premises 124 times between 9/19/19 at 14:38 and 9/20/19 at 12:55."[50] Garcia has since also been charged with an unrelated arson case from September 8, 2019, in his hometown of Palatine.[51]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodfield_Mall#Car_incident