Washington: Police searched on Saturday for a gunman authorities said opened fire in the makeup department of a Macy's store at a mall north of Seattle, killing four women and one man, before fleeing toward an interstate on foot.
People fled, customers hid in dressing rooms and employees locked the doors of nearby stores after gunshots rang out just after 7pm on Friday at the Cascade Mall.
A helicopter, search teams and K-9 units scoured the area for a rifle-carrying man. "We are still actively looking for the shooter," Washington State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mark Francis said at a news conference.
At least two other people were wounded during the shooting.
A lock down is in effect following gunshots reported in a Macy's store.
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
We're actively searching for suspect, tracking leads, etc— Sgt. Mark Francis (@wspd7pio) September 24, 2016
The shooter apparently entered the mall at around 7pm Friday (4am Saturday in Dubai) and shooting occurred at about 7:30 pm at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, about 65 miles north of Seattle, Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis said on Twitter.
Video of police responding to active shooting at #CascadeMall after we were evacuated from #AMCtheater. #PrayforSkagit pic.twitter.com/oEmF22MAVc— Joy Caldwell (@joygcaldwell) September 24, 2016
Skagit County police and fire scanner audio described the suspect as appearing between 20 to 25 years old, with a "skinny build," black messy hair and wearing a black shirt.
Sgt. Francis previously tweeted an "active shooter description," detailing an "Hispanic male wearing grey. Last seen walking towards I5 from Cascade Mall burlington."
A person identifying as the shooter has called into police, and crisis negotiators are being assembled, according to local media.
Police evacuated the mall, then escorted emergency medical services inside to attend to those injured. The number of injured is unknown at this time.
The Department of Emergency Management of Skagit County is asking the public to avoid the area. SWAT teams are inside and outside of the mall, and all roads in and out of the area are closed, according to local media.
Harborview Medical Center in Seattle said in a statement that it was treating a man who was in critical condition from the shooting. A local CBS affiliate reported that a nearby high school football game was evacuated as a precaution.
Francis said on Twitter that police were actively searching for the shooter, who was described as a "Hispanic male wearing gray" and last seen walking toward a nearby highway away from the mall.
"Tragedy has struck in Washington tonight. Our hearts are in Burlington," Governor Jay Inslee said on Twitter.
Rescue workers were entering the mall to attend to the injured, Francis said in a Twitter post.
The shooting comes less than a week after a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead.
The FBI is investigating that attack as a potential act of terrorism.
NBC News reported that Washington State Patrol have said that there is no indication of terrorism in the shooting in Burlington.
Unclear details
The authorities believe there was only one gunman, but it was unclear whether he had help, Francis said in a briefing outside the mall. He said the gunman had last been seen walking toward Interstate 5.
All four women were killed in the cosmetics department of the mall's Macy's store, Francis said.
The FBI said early Saturday that it had "no information to suggest that additional attacks" were planned in Washington state.
The police converged on the mall and were making a store-by-store sweep looking for survivors, some of whom had locked themselves in dressing rooms and other areas, too frightened to come out, a TV station in Seattle reported.
Reports on the number of casualties fluctuated as the night went on. After initially saying that four people had died, the State Patrol revised the number to three, before saying again at the night's last briefing that four had been killed.
Stephanie Bost, an employee at Johnny Carino's, a restaurant at the mall, said a customer reported there had been a shooting about 100 yards away. "We went on lockdown" and shut the doors, she said.
"We saw people being evacuated from the mall and running out to their cars," she added.
Officials called off the Burlington-Edison High School football game and evacuated the stadium, which is just north of the mall, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.
