3 killed in Washington state mall, shooter on the loose

Three people have been killed, and one is in critical condition following a shooting at a mall on Friday night in Burlington, WA, police said. The shooter has not been caught.

The Washington State Patrol earlier reported that four people had been killed in the shooting.

Sgt. Mark Francis of the Washington State Patrol said the shooter left the mall before police arrived and was last seen walking toward I-5 from Cascade Mall.

Francis said there are three deceased females and one male in critical condition that has been airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. There is another female injured, but her injuries are not life-threatening.

Police are the hunt for the shooter who is armed with a rifle, Francis said.

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According to KOMONews, witnesses said the shooter walked into Macy’s and started shooting.

Francis tweeted that EMS entered the mall and began tending to injured victims shortly after the shooting.

The mall has been evacuated, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The Skagit County Department of Emergency Management have provided a picture of the suspect.

According to the Seattle Times, the mall shooting marks Washington’s sixth mass shooting with at least four victims this year.

Burlington is a town of about 9,000 people, located an hour north of Seattle. Cascade Mall is an enclosed shopping mall that opened in 1990, according to its website.

On Sept. 17, a stabbing at a Minnesota mall resulted in 10 people injured but no deaths. The attacker was killed on scene by an off-duty police officer.

There have been 284 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
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