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Police Seek Motive in US Shopping Mall Shooting


Mall Shooting-Washington: This late Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, image from video by KIRO7 photographer Jeff Ritter shows suspected Cascade Mall shooter Arcan Cetin at Skagit County Jail in Mount Vernon, Wash., after his arrest in Oak Harbor, Wash., earlier
Mall Shooting-Washington: This late Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, image from video by KIRO7 photographer Jeff Ritter shows suspected Cascade Mall shooter Arcan Cetin at Skagit County Jail in Mount Vernon, Wash., after his arrest in Oak Harbor, Wash., earlier

A 20-year-old suspect arrested in connection with the shooting spree at a mall in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington is being held without bond Sunday and faces five counts of first-degree murder, according to jail records.

Arcan Cetin of Oak Harbor, Washington, was apprehended Saturday, nearly 24 hours after the massive manhunt began. The Turkish immigrant was mistakenly described after the shooting as a man of Hispanic origin.

Washington State Patrol Sergeant Mark Francis said Sunday that in addition to going through the Oak Harbor residence tied to Cetin, investigators also are searching his vehicle looking for what might have motivated the shooting.

Officials say Cetin was arrested as he walked down the street near his home in Oak Harbor, Washington, by a sheriff who had received a tip that Cetin was in the area.

When officers confronted him, he did not run, said Lt. Mike Hawley of the Island County Sheriff's Office. Instead, he froze and complied, Hawley said. Cetin was not armed at the time of his arrest.

"He said nothing," Hawley said. (He was) "Just kind of zombie-like."

Cetin is scheduled to make a court appearance Monday.

Cetin shot four women and one man in a Macy's store inside the Cascade Mall in the city of Burlington, about 100 kilometers north of Seattle. The women died at the scene and the man later died after being transported to a hospital.

Eyewitnesses to Friday's rampage said people started running out of the shopping mall soon after gunfire rang out. Over the next few hours, police officers swarmed the area and methodically cleared the mall, then set up a search for the gunman.

The Cascade Mall is an enclosed shopping center, featuring department stores, restaurants and a movie theater.

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