“There are people waking up this morning whose worlds are changed forever”, Mayor Steve Sexton told reporters Saturday.
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A weapon was recovered at Cascade Mall in Burlington, a town of about 8,000 people some 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Seattle. The acts were senseless, heartbreaking, and seemingly unjustified – it is hard to believe who would want to kill innocent shoppers, most of whom were just looking for something to do on a Friday night.
“It was the world knocking on our doorstep and it came to our little community here”, he said before acknowledging the response by law enforcement.
The grainy security camera footage showed the suspect initially appearing to enter the mall unarmed and – about 10 minutes later – walking into Macy’s carrying a rifle.
Authorities say the suspect in the deadly Washington state mall shooting said nothing when he was apprehended and was “zombie-like”.
There is no known motive for the murders, nor are there any obvious connections between the suspected murderer and the victims.
Authorities had said that a rifle had been found at the scene.
“I don’t know what his motivations were”, Cammock had said earlier in the day. She said Eagan and his wife had gone out to dinner and to the mall to shop and had made their way to Macy’s when the shooter began his rampage.
Hayley Thompson, the Skagit County coroner, said the victims would be identified only after she examined their bodies at the hospital. Earlier Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no evidence that pointed to terrorism as a motive. A news conference was scheduled for later Saturday night. Francis said authorities were still doing a “final clear” of the 434,000-square-foot (40,000-square-meter) mall late Friday night. Earlier today they announced that a fifth victim had also died while the killer was still at large.
A woman who was inside a Washington state mall when a gunman opened fire – fatally shooting five – says she’s “thankful for my life this morning”. She was in the movie theater inside the mall when the shooting occurred.
At first, she thought it was a drill. Police are just beginning to identify them.
There’s still far too much we don’t know about this story to jump to conclusions. “Then a few officers started canvassing through the crowds, asking if anybody saw anything”, Brandi Montreuil told CNN.
Armando Patino said he was working at a T-Mobile store near Macy’s when he heard the commotion.
She says Sarai went to Macy’s looking for trousers. “We both jumped out with our guns, and he just froze”. “Stay indoors, stay secure”. “He’s out there”, he said, as he waited Saturday to pick up the truck he had left in the mall parking lot. He said it’s unclear if one of them belongs to the gunman. Police believe he went back to the auto to retrieve a rifle.
“Cascade Mall still an active scene”, the Skagit County emergency office tweeted.
“They’re canvassing the area right now, and”. The FBI was assisting local authorities, but it said there was no evidence to point to terrorism. But some indications suggest that the attack may have been random.
Washington State Patrol Sgt. Mark Francis said via Twitter that Cetin was a resident of Oak Harbor, Washington.
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Inslee sent his condolences to the families of the victims and prayers to those injured.
