Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

Suspect Captured in Deadly Mall Shooting in Washington State

update

Guests light candles as they attend a prayer service, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Central United Methodist Church in Sedro-Woolley, Wash.
Guests light candles as they attend a prayer service, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Central United Methodist Church in Sedro-Woolley, Wash.

A 20-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting spree at a mall in the U.S. northwestern state of Washington, authorities say.

Arcan Cetin of Oak Harbor, Washington, was apprehended Saturday, nearly 24 hours after the massive manhunt for him had begun. The Turkish immigrant was mistakenly described as a man of Hispanic origin after the shooting. The motive is not yet known.

Officials say Cetin was arrested on an Oak Harbor street by a sheriff who had received a tip that Cetin was in the area.

This undated Department of Licensing photo posted Sept. 24, 2016, by the Washington State Patrol on its Twitter page shows Arcan Cetin, 20, of Oak Harbor, Wash.
This undated Department of Licensing photo posted Sept. 24, 2016, by the Washington State Patrol on its Twitter page shows Arcan Cetin, 20, of Oak Harbor, Wash.

The sheriff who arrested Cetin said the suspect was "kind of zombie-like" when he was captured.

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.

Emergency personnel stand in front of an entrance to the Cascade Mall at the scene of a shooting where several people were killed, Sept. 23, 2016, in Burlington, Washington.
Emergency personnel stand in front of an entrance to the Cascade Mall at the scene of a shooting where several people were killed, Sept. 23, 2016, in Burlington, Washington.

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.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG