The FBI office in Seattle said it had no evidence the shooting was terror-related.
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But Knutson cautioned, “I can not discount it”.
Police said they were looking for a Hispanic man wearing black and armed with a “hunting-type” rifle and last seen walking toward Interstate 5.
Authorities say the captured suspect in the deadly Washington state mall shooting is 20-year-old Arcan Cetin. His whereabouts are now unknown and police appealed to the public for help.
“We could certainly use the community’s help on that”, Cammock told reporters this morning.
It took 11 search teams and two K-9 teams several hours to clear and secure 434,000 square feet of the mall Friday night, according to Francis.
It’s unclear how many shooters there were, Sgt. March Francis with the Washington State Patrol said.
The police believe there is only one shooter, and their motive is unknown, Trooper Rick Johnson said, according to The Daily Mail.
No identities have been released yet, and a search for the gunman continued.
The nonpartisan organization, based in Washington, D.C., tracks and verifies incidents around the country, defining “mass shootings” as any single shooting incident in which four or more people are killed or wounded, not including the shooter.
There, he shot four women and one man.
Authorities said they found a rifle on the scene.
“But you immediately think about what happened in Aurora, Colorado, so you start moving faster”, she said, referring to the shooting at a movie theater in 2012 that left 12 dead.
Witnesses told KOMO News that the shooter walked into Macy’s and opened fire. “It’s too scary”, she said referring to the mall.
“I turn around and run to the store”.
Some people dashed out of Macy’s, unsure of where to go. The attack took place at the cosmetic counter at the Macy’s store.
A boyfriend of one of Bose’s employees came into the restaurant after trying to go to the mall.
“I just stayed quiet in the dressing room because it just didn’t feel right”, she said. “And it got very quiet”, Caswell said.
“We are devastated by the tragic events that occurred last night at Cascade Mall”, Macy’s said in a statement on its Facebook page Saturday.
Multiple law enforcement agencies and sniffer dogs were searching for the suspect.
Mount Vernon Police Lt. Chris Cammock said Saturday that authorities recovered the weapon from the scene.
The FBI has no information to suggest additional attacks are planned in the state, spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich-William said.
Officials also called off the Burlington-Edison High School football game and evacuated the stadium, which is just north of the mall, The Herald reported.
“We urge residents to heed all safety and detour warnings”.
Steve Sexton, the mayor of Burlington, described the shooting as a “senseless act”.
He said everyone was terrified.
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“I’m nervous. I don’t know if we’ll be going back there”.
