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September 26, 2016

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Shooting suspect ‘zombie-like’ at the time of his arrest

THE 20-year-old suspect in the deadly Washington state mall shooting said nothing and appeared “zombie-like” when he was arrested by authorities nearly 24 hours into an intense manhunt, authorities said.

As the small city absorbed the news, critical questions remained, including the shooter’s motive.

Island County Sheriff’s Mike Hawley said he spotted Arcan Cetin from a patrol car on Saturday evening in Oak Harbor, Washington, and immediately recognized him as the suspect who killed five people at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington.

Hawley said at a news conference Cetin, who immigrated to the US from Turkey, is a legal permanent resident who has been living in Oak Harbor. He had been arrested once before in the county for assault.

“I literally hit my brakes, did a quick turn, I jumped out,” Hawley said. “We both jumped out with our guns, and he just froze.”

Cetin was unarmed and was carrying a satchel with a computer in it. “He was kind of zombie-like,” Hawley said.

Cetin’s arrest capped a frantic search following the slayings of five people the day before. The first 911 call came in just before 7pm on a busy Friday at the Cascade Mall: A man with a rifle was shooting at people in the Macy’s department store.

By the time 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. The fifth victim, a man, died in the early morning hours on Saturday as police finished sweeping the 434,000-square-foot building.

“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.

Authorities said it now appears the rifle was brought into the mall from the suspect’s vehicle that was there, Mount Vernon police said on Saturday night.

Cetin has not been charged, police said. He will be booked into the Skagit County Jail and will appear in Skagit County District Court today.

The Seattle Times reported that Skagit County court records show three domestic-violence assault charges against Cetin. The victim was identified as Cetin’s stepfather.

The newspaper reported Cetin also was arrested for drunken driving.

Cetin was told by an Island County District Court judge on December 29 that he was not to possess a firearm, the newspaper reported.

However, the stepfather urged the judge not to impose a no-contact order, saying his stepson was “going through a hard time.”

Surveillance video captured the suspect entering the mall unarmed and then recorded him about 10 minutes later entering the Macy’s with a “hunting type” rifle in his hand, police said.

The identities of the victims — four women who ranged in age from a teenager to a senior citizen — were withheld pending autopsies and notification of family. The identity of the man who was fatally shot may not be released until today.

Earlier on Saturday as police scrambled to find the shooter, the small city about 97 kilometers north of Seattle waited and worried.

The community of 8,600 people is too far from Seattle, but its population swells to 55,000 during the day because of a popular outlet mall and other stores and businesses.




 

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