2016 Cascade Mall shooting

2016 Cascade Mall shooting
2016 Cascade Mall shooting (Washington (state)) Show map of Washington (state) 2016 Cascade Mall shooting (the US) Show map of the US
Location	Cascade Mall, Burlington, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates	48°27′44″N 122°20′16″W / 48.462213°N 122.337782°W / 48.462213; -122.337782Coordinates: 48°27′44″N 122°20′16″W / 48.462213°N 122.337782°W / 48.462213; -122.337782
Date	September 23, 2016 6:58 p.m. (PDT)
Attack type	Mass shooting, mass murder
Weapons	Ruger 10/22 rifle [1]
Deaths	5[2]
Perpetrator	Arcan Cetin[3]

On September 23, 2016, five people were killed in a mass shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, U.S. The gunman was identified as Arcan Cetin, a 20-year-old who immigrated from Turkey as a child with his family.^[4] He was arrested the following day in Oak Harbor, Washington, his hometown.^[5][6] He confessed to committing the shooting on September 26.^[7]

Killings

On September 23, 2016, Cetin bought tickets evening showing of the movie Snowden at the Cascade Mall. He propped open the theater's exit door with his cell phone and left the theater, an action reminiscent of how the 2012 Aurora shooting was carried out. However, a moviegoer found the phone and turned it into a theater kiosk, where Cetin subsequently retrieved it.^[8] Shortly before 7:00 p.m. PDT on September 23, 2016, Arcan Cetin walked into the Macy's store at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, with a stolen rifle and opened fire,^[9][10] killing four women and one man.^[6] The male victim died the next day at a Seattle hospital.^[11]

Video footage of the shooting, released on October 28, showed the gunman randomly targeting his victims. He first killed a woman near some clothing racks, then approached a cosmetics counter, where he killed one man and three women. All of the victims were shot at close range, and other people present in the store were able to escape unharmed because of their distance from the shooter. Afterwards, the gunman abandoned his weapon and fled the scene in a blue four-door vehicle.^[12]

The FBI and ATF are providing assistance to the Burlington police and Washington state police in investigating the shooting.^[13]

Victims

Five people were killed during the Cascade Mall shooting. They were Sarai Lara (16), a sophomore at Mount Vernon High School and cancer survivor;^[14] Chuck Eagan (61), a Boeing maintenance worker from Lake Stevens;^[15] Belinda Galde (64), a probation officer with the Snohomish County District Court;^[16] Beatrice Dotson (95), Galde's mother;^[17] Shayla Martin (52), a make-up artist at Macy's.^[18][19]

Perpetrator

CCTV stills of the shooter

Arcan Cetin^[3] (pronounced [ar'dʒan tʃe'tin], born August 20, 1996), the sole suspect, was born in Adana, Turkey.^[20] He immigrated to the United States as a child after his mother married a U.S. citizen. Authorities initially identified him as a "permanent resident" until further investigation found that he was a naturalized American citizen.^[21] He graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 2015^[22] and worked as a bagger at the Commissary in Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.^[23][24]

Cetin was arrested without incident on the evening of September 24 while he was walking on Oak Harbor Road at Northeast Seventh Avenue in Oak Harbor, Washington.^[22] Two days later, he confessed to the shooting.^[25]

Online records show that Cetin had prior arrests; he was a defendant in seven cases in Island County District Court from 2013 to 2015 and was arrested in July 2015 on charges of assault in the fourth degree.^[22] Cetin was ordered to undergo mental health counseling which he completed in March 2016. The court also imposed an order for him not to take drugs or drink alcohol. As of August 25, 2016, no breach of the court order against Cetin had been identified.^[26]

Possible motive

Police have not yet officially released a motive for the shooting. Before Cetin's arrest, authorities stated they had no reason to believe the incident was related to terrorism.^[27][28][29] Cetin told authorities that he was interested in the activities of ISIS, but when asked if the terrorist group had inspired his actions he replied, "I can't answer that."^[8]

On September 25, 2016, it was reported that Cetin may have been motivated by the break-up of a relationship with a worker from the Macy's store he targeted, but the ex-girlfriend had not worked there in months and currently lives in another county.^[4] Cetin was described by authorities as having called out women's names as he allegedly killed them during the shooting.^{[30] [8]}

References