Suspect captured
Five killed at Macy’s store in Wash. state
BURLINGTON, Wash. — The suspect in a shooting at a Washington state mall that left five dead is in custody, authorities said Saturday.
The Skagit County Department of Emergency Management said via Twitter Saturday evening that the suspect had been captured. No other details were immediately available.
A gunman opened fire at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, Friday night, killing four females and a male before fleeing. Law enforcement staged a massive search over more than 20 hours for the suspect, initially described by witnesses as a young Hispanic male wearing black.
The first 911 call came in just before 7 p.m. on a busy Friday night at the Cascade Mall: A man with a rifle was shooting at people in the Macy’s Department Store.
By the time police arrived moments later, the carnage at the Macy’s makeup counter was complete. Four people were dead and the shooter was gone, last seen walking toward Interstate 5. A fifth victim, a man, died in the early-morning hours Saturday as police finished sweeping the 434,000-square-foot building.
“There are people waking up this morning and their world has changed forever. The city of Burlington has probably changed forever ... ,” Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton said Saturday at a news conference. “This was a senseless act. It was the world knocking on our doorstep and it came into our little community.”
As the small city absorbed the news, critical questions remained, including the identity of the shooter, his motive and his whereabouts. A massive manhunt continued and police broadcast a plea for tips. The FBI said terrorism was not suspected.
The gunman was described by witnesses to police as a young Hispanic man dressed in black. Surveillance video captured him entering the mall unarmed and then recorded him about 10 minutes later entering the Macy’s with a “hunting type” rifle in his hand, Mount Vernon police Lt. Chris Cammock said.
Authorities did not say how the suspect may have obtained the weapon — whether he retrieved it from outside or picked it up in the mall — but they believe he acted alone. The weapon was recovered at the scene.
The identities of the victims — four women who ranged in age from a teenager to a senior citizen and an adult male — were being withheld.
“Probably one of the most difficult moments for us last night was knowing that there were family members wondering about their loved ones in there,” Cammock said.
As police scrambled to find the shooter, the small city about 60 miles north of Seattle settled into a new and nervewracking reality.
The community of 8,600 people is too far from Seattle to be a commuter town, but its population swells to 55,000 during the day because of a popular outlet mall, retail stores and other businesses.
As the shots rang out, shoppers hid in dressing rooms and bathrooms and made hushed, terrified phone calls to relatives. One woman started running with her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter only to slip and fall — and then watch as the shooter strode past her terrified children, KIRO-TV reported on its Twitter feed.
“We have never been so scared in our lives,” the woman texted the station.
Joanne Burkholder, 19, of nearby Mount Vernon, was in the mall’s theater when security guards came in and told them to evacuate immediately. Panicked moviegoers gathered in the hallway, and Burkholder heard screaming as the officers escorted them to safety.
“You’d think it would happen in Everett or Seattle, but a small town of Burlington, I’d never dream something like this would happen,” she said Saturday.