NIU graduate student wins big on 'Wheel of Fortune'

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Northern Illinois University graduate student won big money on a long-running game show that aired Thursday night.

Alyssa Tillmon, who is also an intern in the Evanston city manager's office, won $18,000 in cash and prizes on "Wheel of Fortune."

The 24-year-old told Evanston Now that she was nervous but confident during the taping, which occurred in October.

Tillmon won $11,000 in cash plus a trip to Mexico worth $7,000.

While the show was aired across the country, the local broadcast of "Wheel of Fortune" on ABC 7 was interrupted 10 minutes into the show for coverage of the shooting at the Oak Brook Center shopping mall.

Oak Brook Center mall reopens as police search for second shooter involved in brazen gunfight that left four wounded