Police arrest Arcan Cetin who killed 5 at Washington Mall

The suspect in a shooting at a Washington state mall that left five dead and sparked an intensive, nearly 24-hour manhunt is in custody, authorities announced late on Saturday.

Washington State Patrol Sergeant Mark Francis identified the suspect via Twitter as 20-year-old Arcan Cetin from Oak Harbor, Washington.

The gunman opened fire at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, on Friday night, killing four females and a male before fleeing.

The first 911 call came in just before 7pm (local time) on a busy Friday night at the mall saying that a man with a rifle was shooting at people in the Macy’s department store, reported The Washington Times.

When police arrived moments later, the carnage at the Macy’s makeup counter was complete. Four people were dead, and the shooter was gone, last seen walking toward Interstate 5.

A fifth victim, a man, died in the early morning hours on Saturday as police finished sweeping the 434,000ft2 building.

“THEIR WORLD HAS CHANGED FOREVER”

“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,” Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton said on Saturday at a news conference. 

“This was a senseless act. It was the world knocking on our doorstep, and it came into our little community."

The FBI announced that terrorism was not suspected.

Surveillance video captured the suspect entering the mall unarmed and then recorded him about 10 minutes later entering Macy’s with a “hunting type” rifle in his hand, outlined Mount Vernon Police Lieutenant Chris Cammock.

Authorities did not say how the suspect may have obtained the weapon — whether he retrieved it from outside or picked it up in the mall — but they believe he acted alone. The weapon was recovered at the scene, reported AP.

16-YEAR-OLD VICTIM

The Seattle Times reported that one of the victims in the deadly Washington state mall shooting was a 16-year-old girl.

Sarai Lara’s mother said she had survived cancer as a young girl and was a happy student.

Evangelina Lara told the newspaper through a translator that she was shopping with Sarai and her younger sister, but they split up, when Sarai went to Macy’s looking for pants.

Evangelina told the newspaper that it was confirmed at 2am on Saturday that her daughter was among the five people killed.

Read more here.

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