Murder in Macy’s
BURLINGTON, Wash. (AP) P TO late yesterday, the search was continuing for a gunman who police said killed five people in a Washington state mall.
As the suspect remained at large yesterday, authorities appealed for help in identifying him, but said there were no indications the slayings north of Seattle were a terrorist act.
People fled, customers hid in dressing rooms, and employees locked the doors of nearby stores after gunshots rang out just after 7 p.m. last Friday at the Cascade Mall in Burlington.
A helicopter, search teams and K-9 units scoured the area for the gunman in a police response that included more than 200 officers.
The gunman entered the shopping centre
Uwithout a weapon, but 10 minutes later went inside Macy’s with a rifle and opened fire, authorities said yesterday. According to the authorities, a weapon had been found at the scene.
HUNTING RIFLE
Mount Vernon Police Lieutenant Chris Cammock described it as a “hunting-type” rifle. Cammock said officers are reconstructing the entire scene at the mall.
“There are people waking up this morning and their world has changed forever,” Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton said yesterday at a news conference. “The city of Burlington has probably changed forever.”
Authorities said four females, ranging in age from teens to seniors, died after the gunman opened fire in the make-up department of a Macy’s store. An adult male who was wounded in the shooting died early yesterday.
Up to press time, no identifications of the victims were released
Police said they were looking for a man dressed in black and last seen walking towards Interstate 5.
Authorities said the motive was unknown for the shooting about 60 miles (97 kilometres) north of Seattle.
The Cascade Mall is an enclosed shopping mall that opened in 1990. It features J.C. Penney, TJ Maxx, and Macy’s stores, among other stores, restaurants and a movie theatre.
This is the second mall attack in the US in recent days.
On September 17, a man stabbed 10 people at a Minnesota mall before being shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Members of Uganda’s gay and transgender community yell “we want peace” after police forced them to leave the gay pride festival in Entebbe, Uganda, yesterday.