Skokie police have arrested a man who attempted to rob a woman at Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center Tuesday, allegedly holding her head underwater in a koi pond at the north end of the mall, according to a police news release.
William Dobbs, 35, of the 5000 block of Old Orchard Road, Skokie, has since been charged by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office with three felony counts of attempted murder, aggravated battery to a senior citizen and aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
Officers responded to a report of an attempted robbery and battery at the mall, located at 4905 Old Orchard Center, near Skokie Boulevard and Golf Road, just after 11 a.m. Tuesday. Mall bystanders told police Dobbs was trying to take a woman’s purse and was armed with a handgun, police said.
Bystanders intervened and separated Dobbs from the female victim before police arrived, according to the news release. He was present on the scene at the time of officers’ arrival and was detained.
The report of Dobbs being armed with a handgun was not substantiated, Skokie Police Sgt. Brandi Shelton confirmed.
A preliminary investigation indicated that Dobbs and the female victim did not know one another and he struck the woman “unprovoked with a saddle-type bag” when they crossed paths near the koi pond, the news release said.
Dobbs then proceeded to hold the female victim’s head underwater, according to police.
The victim was later taken to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries sustained during the attack, Shelton said. The investigation remains ongoing.
Several Skokie police cars were present at Old Orchard Wednesday morning, circling the mall’s perimeter. Mall security also appeared heightened around the area of the attack, with little pedestrian foot traffic observed during the time of the shopping center’s opening at 10 a.m.
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In a statement to Pioneer Press, General Manager Maegen Akers wrote the shopping center is “aware” of the incident that took place Tuesday and is “cooperating with the Skokie Police Department.”
“The safety and well-being of our visitors, retailers and employees remain our top priority.”
Employees at stores Bath & Body Works, Urban Outfitters and Lovesac, which are near where the incident took place, declined to comment on it, deferring back to the statement from management.
According to police, Dobbs is scheduled to appear before a judge Oct. 14 at the Skokie Courthouse, 5600 Old Orchard Road.
Additional details will be provided as the investigation allows, the news release said.
An arrest does not constitute a conviction.