Washington police arrest Cascade Mall shooting suspect

The suspect is a 20-year-old boy, who lives with his family in Oak Harbor.

Washington State Police arrested a suspect on Saturday who is believed to have opened fired with a rifle at the Cascade Mall killing five people.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Keith Leary said in a phone interview that the man was taken into custody. However, Leary did not elaborate any further.

Seattle television station KOMO reported on Twitter that the suspect was captured in Oak Harbor. It is about 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Burlington where the mall shooting took place on Friday.

Television station KIRO, cited people who know the suspect and reported that he is a 20-year-old. He lives with his family in Oak Harbor, where he graduated from high school in 2015.

KIRO also showed a video of police leading a young man, who did not resist, to a vehicle.

The Washington state police officials tweeted that the authorities would provide the details at a press conference.

The police did not reveal the name of the suspect but said that he might have entered the mall around 7 pm (local time) on Friday and began shooting in the cosmetics section of a Macy's department store.

Lieutenant Chris Cammock of the Mount Vernon Police Department said at a briefing on Saturday that initially, he walked into the shopping mall without the rifle. But later, the surveillance camera caught him with the weapon.

Cammock, commander of the Skagit County Multi-Agency Response Team, said the weapon was recovered later at the mall.

Four women and a man were killed in the shooting but none of the victims were identified.

"It was the world knocking on our doorstep and it came to our little community here," Steve Sexton, the mayor of Burlington told Reuters.

He described the shooting as a "senseless act" and said: "I know now our support goes with them to bring this son of a b**** to justice."

The authorities are investigating the attack but did not disclose any information about a possible motive for the attack.

"We have no indication that we have a terrorism act," said Michael Knutson, assistant special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Seattle office.

"I can't discount that, but I can't conclude it either," he added.

The police requested everyone to evacuate the mall after the shooting. Many people had locked themselves in dressing rooms. The mall remained closed on Saturday as investigators looked for evidence and attempted to recreate the crime scene.

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