Yesterday, we covered the Seattle-area mall shooting, including a personal response from LI’s A. F. Branco. At that time, law enforcement was looking for the suspect.
The suspect, identified as Arcan Cetin, was arrested Saturday evening as he walked along a street in Oak Harbor. Cetin will be turned over to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, according to Island County authorities.
He is expected to appear in Skagit County District Court on Monday.
Cetin, born in Turkey and reportedly a legal permanent resident, has a criminal record.
The Seattle Times continues:
Skagit County court records show Cetin has a criminal record that included three domestic-violence assault charges in both Burlington and Island County, with the victim identified as Cetin’s stepfather. He also was arrested for drunken driving.Island County District Court records show that Cetin was told by a judge on Dec. 29 that he was not to possess a firearm.. . . . A couple years ago, Marty Baldwin said he allowed the suspected gunman, who was homeless at the time, to move in with him and his wife. But Baldwin kicked him out a few months later after learning the younger man was using and selling drugs, he saidBaldwin said he called 911 Friday night after recognizing the man he knew as “Frankie” on TV.. . . . Police said the suspect appeared to be a Hispanic male in his late teens to mid-20s with a close-shaved haircut. He used a long gun similar to a hunting rifle, Francis said.However, according to the Cetin’s father’s Facebook page, Cetin was born in Turkey. His father met and married Cetin’s mother in Turkey and the family settled in Oak Harbor, according to the Facebook page.Cammock said he is a legal permanent resident of the U.S.
While his motivation for the shootings are still unclear, law enforcement officials “intend to find out.”
“I don’t know what his motivations were,” said Cammock, commander of the Skagit Multi-Agency Response Team (SMART), said at a Saturday morning news conference. “But I certainly intend to find out.”. . . . Cammock said detectives do not know whether Cetin had a connection with any of the victims.
According to Reuters, Cetin was unarmed and “zombie like” at the time of his arrest.
Police told reporters nothing is yet known about Cetin’s possible motive but they were not ruling out anything, including terrorism. They described his demeanor when apprehended as “zombie like,” and said he was unarmed.Surveillance video from the mall in Burlington, around 65 miles (105 km) north of Seattle, showed the gunman walked into the shopping center without a rifle, but later caught him brandishing the weapon, Mount Vernon Police Lieutenant Chris Cammock saidThe rifle was later recovered at the mall, said Cammock, commander of the Skagit County Multi-Agency Response Team.Authorities have not identified the victims, but local media said they ranged in age from mid-teens to mid-90s, and included a mother and her daughter.
[Featured image via KOMO News on Twitter]
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