Neighbor: Mall suspect ‘creepy’

Man held in shooting deaths of five has multiple prior arrests

OAK HARBOR, Wash. — The 20-year-old man suspected of killing five people with a rifle at a Macy’s makeup counter had a string of run-ins with the law in recent years, including charges that he assaulted his stepfather, and was described by a neighbor as so “creepy, rude and obnoxious” that she kept a stun gun by her front door.

Investigators tried Sunday to piece together information on Arcan Cetin, who was arrested Saturday evening after a nearly 24-hour manhunt. Court records show more than a half-dozen criminal cases against him in Island County alone since 2013.

Authorities said the gunman in the attack at the Cascade Mall in Burlington opened fire in the department store’s cosmetics department Friday night, killing a man and four females of various ages. The killer then fled.

Cetin said nothing and appeared “zombielike” when he was taken into custody on a sidewalk outside his apartment complex about 30 miles away in Oak Harbor by a sheriff’s officer who recognized him as the suspect in the shootings, authorities said.

Cetin immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey and is a legal permanent resident, officials said.

As the surrounding area absorbed news of the arrest, critical questions remained, including the gunman’s motive. The FBI said early Saturday that there was no indication the shooting was terrorism, but authorities in Washington said later in the day that they were ruling nothing out.

On Sunday, investigators searched Cetin’s vehicle and the apartment complex. They were seen carrying boxes from a rear, upstairs unit. The fourunit building was surrounded with yellow police tape. Detectives would not say what they found.

Amber Cathey, 21, lived in an apartment next to Cetin for the past three months and said she was so frightened by him that she complained to apartment management and kept a stun gun handy. Cathey said she blocked him on Snapchat after he sent her a photo of his crotch.

“He was really creepy, rude and obnoxious,” Cathey said. She said she would try to avoid him by walking the long way around to her apartment if she saw his car in the parking lot. The two were in high school together, as well, and Cathey said he acted the same way then.

The Seattle Times reported that court records show Cetin faced three charges of assaulting his stepfather. The newspaper said Cetin also was arrested on drunken-driving charges. It gave no details on when the arrests took place or how the cases may have been resolved.

In the assault case, Cetin was told by a judge in December that he was not to possess a gun, the newspaper reported. However, the stepfather urged the judge not to impose a no-contact order, saying his stepson was “going through a hard time.”

Attempts to reach Cetin’s family for comment by phone and social media weren’t immediately successful. It wasn’t clear if Cetin had a lawyer. A man who went to the door Sunday morning at an Oak Harbor address believed to be where Cetin’s stepfather and mother live asked a reporter to leave the property.

Social media accounts apparently belonging to Cetin showed he had a fondness for the military and for video games.

A Twitter account showed, among other things, selfies, photos of him in younger years and pictures of Turkish food. He once participated in paintball and said he “can’t wait for Halo 5,” the first-person shooter video game. He also tweeted: “Shout out to the ROTC peeps.” A Facebook account showed he liked military-related sites.

Oak Harbor is a city of 22,000 on Whidbey Island with many military families associated with the nearby Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Hawley said he spotted Cetin from a patrol car and immediately recognized him as the suspect in the shooting rampage.

“I literally hit my brakes, did a quick turn, I jumped out,” Hawley said.

Cetin was unarmed and was carrying a satchel with a computer in it. “He was kind of zombielike,” Hawley said.

No immediate charges were brought against Cetin, who awaited a court appearance today.

The names of the dead were not immediately released by police. But The Seattle Times identified one as 16-year-old Sarai Lara. Her mother said she survived cancer as a young girl and was a happy student.

Authorities in suburban Seattle identified another victim as Belinda Galde, 64, a probation officer with the Snohomish County District Court.