Police say the shooting took place inside the Cascade Mall in Burlington. Sgt. Mark Francis of the Washington State patrol sent two tweets about the shooting. At 7:33 p.m. Sgt. Francis wrote: “Active shooter description: Hispanic male wearing grey. Last seen walking towards I5 from Cascade Mall burlington.”
Then half-an-hour later at 8:03 p.m. he wrote: “4 confirmed deceased in the mall, shooter(s) left scene b4 police arrived, unknown # of shooter, possibly just 1, police clearing mall now.” Security stills show the man was wearing a dark grey or black t-shirt; his description as ‘Hispanic,’ police said, is based on witness accounts.
There was some fluctuation concerning the number of dead and after the tweet saying 4 were deceased police said only 3 had died. However, it is now confirmed that the number of dead is 5, four females and one male.
Reports say at least one male walked into the Macy’s store in the mall carrying a rifle and began shooting. It is unclear if the shooter had specific people targeted but all four women were shot in the make-up department of Macy’s. It’s unclear where the male, who died in hospital, was when he was shot.
EMS starting to enter to attend to injured inside Mall w/ police escort and after initial clearance. pic.twitter.com/Nkfb7co6sa
— Sgt. Mark Francis (@wspd7pio) September 24, 2016
Paramedics had to wait for clearance before they could enter the mall to help the injured.
Police eventually said that there was only one shooter. Witnesses were taken to a nearby church by bus and police took statements before releasing them.
The city of Burlington has a population of about 8,500 and is in Skagit Country and a little over an hour north of Seattle. The Cascade Mall opened in1990 and has over 90 stores and restaurants.
Many Canadians from B.C. shop at the mall.
