Suspect arrested in Wash. shooting
Town in shock after 5 killed in mall attack
Police have captured the gunman in a mass shooting at a Washington state shopping mall that left five dead, authorities said last night.
The suspect is Arcan Cetin, a 20-year-old Oak Harbor, Wash., resident, according to a tweet from Washington State Police last night.
No other details were immediately available.
The shooting had devastated the small northern Washington town, its mayor told the Herald yesterday afternoon as authorities hunted the killer.
“The community, in a lot of ways, is still in shock,” Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton told the Herald.
“It’s something that is very unusual for our part of the world. But they are leaning on each other and supporting each other in a very strong way, and that’s how we are going to get through this.”
The gunman had opened fire late Friday in the makeup department of a Macy’s store at the Cascade Mall, authorities said.
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.
The first 911 call came in just before 7 p.m.
By the time police arrived, the carnage was complete: Four people were dead. A fifth victim, a man, died in the early morning hours yesterday as federal, state and local law enforcement launched an intense manhunt.
“There are people waking up this morning and their world has changed forever. The city of Burlington has probably changed forever, but I don’t think our way of life needs to change,” Sexton told his community at a press conference earlier in the day. “This was a senseless act. It was the world knocking on our doorstep and it came into our little community.”
Residents of the town of about 8,600 turned to each other for comfort at a community gathering in a city park.
“It’s too scary. It’s too close to home,” said Maria Elena Vasquez, who attended the vigil with her husband and two young children, including a 7-year-old daughter.
“I’m a little nervous even taking her to her soccer game today with this person still on the loose. But I want to keep it normal for her.”
The identities of the victims — four women who ranged in age from a teenager to a senior citizen — were withheld pending autopsies and notification of family. The identity of the man who was fatally shot was also withheld and may not be released until tomorrow.