Seattle Shooting Leaves Five Dead; FBI: No Evidence of Terrorism
Tragedy strikes close to home; for LI’s A. F. Branco it is home
The murderer of five people at a Seattle-area shopping mall is still at large, and the FBI has stated that there is no evidence of terrorism in this horrific act.
A gunman who was last seen armed with a rifle remained at large Saturday morning after four women and a man were fatally shot Friday night at a shopping mall about 65 miles north of Seattle, Washington State Patrol said.
The victims were shot in the makeup department at Macy’s at Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, before 7 p.m. local time, police said.
In addition to the four women who died earlier, a male who had sustained life-threatening injuries died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, several hours after he had been transported there, Sgt. Mark Francis, a public information officer with the Washington State Patrol, announced early Sunday [sic] morning.
The shooter, who has not yet been identified, is still at large, and police are seeking help in locating him.
If anyone has information about the #CascadeMallShooting suspect, please call police 360-428-3211 or [email protected] pic.twitter.com/uN6a5AYixd
— Skagit County DEM (@SkagitDEM) September 24, 2016
ABC News continues:
Authorities described the “one lone shooter” as a “Hispanic male” wearing a black shirt, who was last seen walking toward Interstate 5. His motive is unknown.
A helicopter, search teams and K-9 units scoured the area around the mall for the suspect.
Sgt. Francis tweeted a photo of the suspect, writing “Here is the shooter. We believe just one shooter … Armed with rifle.”
Here is the shooter. We believe just one shooter. Notify authorities if you see him. Armed with rifle. pic.twitter.com/GXeWCPYnx5
— Trooper Rocky Oliphant (@wspd7pio) September 24, 2016
Watch the report:
The FBI have announced that there is no reason to believe that this is an act of terrorism.
In another report, ABC News states:
The FBI said Saturday that there is no indication of a terrorism link in a shooting at a Seattle-area mall that killed 5.
“We have no indication this was a terrorism act,” an assistant special agent in the FBI’s Seattle office said at a press conference Saturday morning on the shooting. “There is no evidence to support that.”
The FBI has also announced that there are no known threats or additional attacks planned in Washington state.
At this time, #FBI has no information to suggest additional attacks planned in WA state. Assisting with intel review & manpower #SkagitDEM
— FBI Seattle (@FBISeattle) September 24, 2016
This shooting has hit close to home for LI: for LI’s A. F. Branco, it is home.
Branco shared his reaction via email and has graciously permitted me to publish it here.
He writes:
“So Close to Home,” actually, it was home.
Sadly, a painful and horrific nightmare was inflicted on my community last night when a supposed lone shooter (still at large) shot and killed 5 people at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington last night. This is a place where my wife and I routinely shop and go to the movies.
My wife’s brother and niece were in the mall when the chaos started. Another close relative was working in Macy’s along with other close relatives in the mall at the time of the shooting. They were all evacuated to safety without harm. While we are relieved and so grateful that they all made it back to their homes safely last night, our hearts are extremely heavy and go out to those who were lost last night and to their families in this senseless act of violence.
Please pray for our community during this incredibly difficult time. Please also pray for our first responders and the law enforcement officers that are still trying to find this person.
A.F. Branco and Family
Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family, and his community, including—always—first responders and law enforcement.
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Comments
The FBI cannot prove he intended to break the law.
Why is he being called “hispanic”? Did he say something, or is there something on his shirt in Spanish?
Maybe security camera footage shows that he was wearing a sombrero.
As we all know, only Hispanics can do that.
Someone thought they heard him say, “Hola akbar” as he lifted his poncho and withdrew another round from his bandolier.
Is it bad that this made me laugh? Out loud?
There are unconfirmed reports that he called out a woman’s name during the shooting. If–and we don’t know, but if–that’s the case, then someone might know who he is and know him to be Hispanic. This is my own speculation based on an unconfirmed report (and thus not part of my post).
Thanks.
Current twitter speculation is that he is one of those rare Hispanics of Pakistani descent. https://twitter.com/Flying4JC/status/779753956042047488
The FBI couldn’t find intent in the Hillary use of a personal computer to evade FOIA investigation, Omar Mateen, Syeed Farook, Tashfine Malik, and Ahmad Khan Rahami, either.
They were, however, able to find Robert Lavoy Finecum.
Mr Finecum was unavailable for comment.
Could be Hispanic, could be Middle Eastern. No report that he said anything at all.
However, the fact he entered the mall and store unarmed and left to return with the weapon could mean he was targeting one or more individuals and making sure they were present. Or it could mean he was checking for security guards.
The pictures aren’t great, but they are good enough. Somebody knows who he is. Time will tell if they do the right thing.
Thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families.
5 people dead. In a mall. That’s evidence of terrorism. Pretty much the definition.
By definition, terrorism is aimed at affecting political change.
A drug cartel shooting up an informants house and killing everyone inside would count under law as a terrorist act, though not the action was not intended to effect political change.
No it’s not.
People shot could be a poorly-executed robbery, a gang rubout, a disgruntled former employee, some guy shooting his ex and a few of her more obnoxious friends, or just a good old mass-shooting atrocity. None of which are terrorism.
Just one darned minute! How do they know for sure that the shooter was a male? Maybe she was a disgruntled customer of the makeup bar who happened to have short hair. Which restroom did the shooter use? Was the shooter illiterate? Didn’t he/she/it read the sign that said that taking a gun there was forbidden? Was the sign not written in Spanish too? Does the shooter know that taking a gun to the mall will go on his/hers/its permanent record? Inquiring minds want to know.
Looks like an SKS. And it looks planned with initial recon casing the area. When seconds count… the armed cops are minutes away.
Mohammed Garcia?
How can the FBI be sure of terrorism, when it may not even be describing the suspect with the correct pronoun? Biology and chromosomes be damned, this person has not filled out the “pronoun protocol” form, to my knowledge. Shouldn’t assume.
It’s been about twenty hours, and the photos are clear enough that SOMEBODY must know who this is. I’m surprised there’s no bulletin with a name yet.
I’m a little suspicious of this silence, too, Kate. But we’ll know more soon enough, I’m sure.
The FBI has been thoroughly corrupted by Obama/Jarrett.
Their statement on anything means about as much as any statement from America’s horse’s ass, Barack Obama.
Comey should have resigned long ago in protest.
Zimmerman was a “White Hispanic,” this guy is apparently a Turkish Hispanic.
Yes, just saw the news. Turkish, not Hispanic. A policeman recognized him walking the street and arrested him without incident.
And is he catholic? Or methodist? Never can tell with those turkish hispanics.
BURLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — 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.
Cetin, who immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey, is a legal permanent resident who has been living in Oak Harbor, authorities said. He had been arrested once before in the county for assault, Hawley said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MALL_SHOOTING_WASHINGTON?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-24-10-17-55
NEWS FLASH…. Obama blames the NRA for the shooting!
detail at 10PM!
(sarcasm)
Heard to yell “me gusta mucho Allah!” Is Comey trying to bump Jeh Johnson as Employee of the Month?