Surveillance video provided by the Washington State Patrol shows the suspect in a shooting rampage at the Cascade Mall.
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Authorities said Saturday, September 24, they have arrested the suspect behind a shooting that left 5 people dead at a shopping mall in the U.S. state of Washington, about 24 hours after the killings.
Lara, a Mount Vernon High School sophomore, was one of five people killed when a gunman opened fire in the Burlington department store. A 5 victim, who is male, later died in the hospital, as Francis tweeted.
The FBI said they see no indications of terrorism in the attack, although the investigation is in its preliminary phase and no suspect has yet been arrested.
“But I don’t think our way of life needs to change forever”, Sexton told reporters.
“There are people waking up this morning and their world has changed forever”, he said. “The city of Burlington has probably changed forever”. And police initially said one female sustained non-life threatening injuries, but that was incorrect.
Mr Sexton said: “It was the world knocking on our doorstep”. Police believe there was one shooter, armed with a rifle. He was last seen walking toward Interstate five.
Authorities had previously said four people were killed, but updated the number of fatalities after they were able to secure the scene. Check back for more details. As of Saturday morning local time, the bodies remained at the store, said the Skagit County coroner, Hayley Thompson.
“It’s not fair what happened to her”, Evangelina said of Lara, speaking through a translator Saturday evening in the family’s kitchen, surrounded by at least a dozen friends and family members.
She said: “I’ve never been so terrified in my life”. Mount Vernon Police Lt. Chris Cammock described it as a “hunting type” rifle.
Police released a closely cropped still from video surveillance of the young-looking suspect showing only his head and torso, though the full picture, published by local media, showed him holding what appeared to be a rifle.
Lieutenant Cammock declined to comment on reports that a witness heard a man shout a woman’s name. The motive is still not yet known.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said law enforcement officers had worked to locate the shooter, and urged residents to follow instructions.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is assisting in the investigation, said early yesterday that it had “no information to suggest that additional attacks” were planned in Washington state.
Local and regional law enforcement from more than 26 agencies responded to the scene, with about 200 officers on site at the height of the incident.
Skagit County authorities in Burlington, about 65 miles north of Seattle, used 11 search teams and two K-9 units to clear the 434,000-square-foot mall, going shop by shop, but warned the situation remained volatile.
Mr Mathews arrived around the time the shooting occurred.
An officer “with a large gun started yelling for people to leave and fast”, she said.
“He was just a wonderful person”, Thrush said. “That stuff is running through my mind”.
She says Sarai went to Macy’s looking for trousers.
Tari Caswell said she was in a women’s dressing room at Macy’s when she heard “what sounded like four balloons popping, and I thought that was odd because I hadn’t seen any balloons”, the newspaper reported.
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“I just stayed quiet in the dressing room because it just didn’t feel right”, she said.
