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Arcan Cetin Arrested: Burlington Police Capture Cascade Mall Shooting Suspect One Day After Attack That Left Five Dead

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 15:48 PST, Sep 24, 2016

Arcan Cetin has been arrested in Washington, one day after police say the 20-year-old man opened fire inside the Cascade Mall in an attack that left five people dead.

Cetin was captured on Saturday evening in Oak Harbor at close to 7 p.m. PT, King5 reported.

There were new details on the Cascade Mall shooting, with police, on Saturday, saying that they do not believe there was a previous connection between suspect Arcan Cetin and the five victims.

Witnesses said Cetin first entered the shopping mall unarmed but came back 10 minutes later with a rifle, where he opened fire briefly before laying down the weapon and walking away.

The shooting rocked the small community about 60 miles north of Seattle.

“I think Burlington is still a very safe place to live it’s just something that visited our doorstep and it’s very uncommon that we have this type of tragedy on our area and our law enforcement does a very good job in keeping people safe,” said Burlington mayor, Steve Sexton.

The motive for the attack is not yet clear, though police say they do not believe it was terrorism-related. Some news outlets have noted that Arcan Cetin is a Turkish Muslim, contrary to original reports that the shooter was a Hispanic man.

A neighbor shared video of Cetin’s arrest, showing a number of police vehicles from across different departments and agencies blocking off a road. It is not clear if Cetin can be seen in the footage.

The arrest of Arcan Cetin came just hours after police said they had no clues on the identity of the Cascade Mall shooter. The mall’s security cameras had captured the young man as he calmly opened fire, with grainy images showing his full face and clothing.

“We do not have an identity on the individual yet. We certainly could use the public’s help on that,” said Mount Vernon Police Lt. Chris Cammock, via KOMO News.

“I don’t know what his motivations were,” Cammock said. “I don’t know what his motivations were to do this. I don’t know what his motivations were to continue. I don’t know what his motivations were to stop.”

Witnesses said the shooting happened so quickly that it was over before many people even knew what had happened. Joe Zavala, a shopper who was outside of the Macy’s department store where the shooting took place, told King5 that he heard eight or nine gunshots and then saw the gunman taking aim at people.

Zavala said the man pointed the gun in his direction, prompting Zavala to take off running. But Zavala returned to search for his wife, who was inside the Macy’s store at the time of the shooting. He found a number of wounded people, with the rifle still sitting on a checkout counter.

“It all happened so fast,” said Zavala, whose wife was inside a fitting room during the shooting and was left unharmed. “At first I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe what I was hearing. I felt helpless, because I couldn’t do anything.”

The gunman’s escape made for a nerve-wracking day for residents in the town of 8,000 people, with community events called off, including some Friday night high school football games as police combed the area.

More than 200 officers also spent most of Friday night and into Saturday searching for evidence across the sprawling 400,000-square-foot mall.

It is not yet clear what led police to arrest Arcan Cetin, though they are expected to release more information on his arrest in the coming day. They have also not said yet what charges he will face for the attack at Cascade Mall that left five people dead.

[Featured Image by Skagit Multiple Agency Response Team]

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