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Subscribe to RSSWitnesses Kelly Lay and Mira Sytsma recount the terrifying moments when a man opened fired at Portland-area mall, killing two before turning the gun on himself.
Updated at 7:58 a.m. ET: A masked gunman killed two people and seriously injured another in a Portland, Ore., mall Tuesday, sending Christmas shoppers and people waiting in line to see Santa Claus running for cover.
The gunman, described as an adult male, took his own life after spraying bullets around the mall, said Lt. James Rhodes, of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.
The shooting happened around 3:20 p.m. local time (6:20 p.m. ET) in the food court near Macy's, triggering panic among an estimated 10,000 shoppers at the Clackamas Town Center.
Several witnesses reported hearing the suspect announce, "I am the shooter," before he began firing.
"All of a sudden, I just heard a series of gunshots… boom, boom, boom, boom, boom… whatever the shooter was shooting at, they continued to shoot," shopper Bill Hoff told NBC station KGW.
A young woman, Kristina Shevchenko, was rushed to the hospital in "critical" condition, according to a family statement. After surgery, the 15-year-old was upgraded to "stable" condition.
Police agencies were able to "basically hunt down, find this guy" in record time, Sheriff Craig Roberts told NBC station KGW.
When the shooting began, people in line to get their photos taken with Santa immediately dove for cover, KGW reported.
A woman who answered the phone at a Chipotle restaurant in the mall Tuesday told NBC News that someone ran in and yelled, "It's a shooting, it's a shooting."
Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts discusses the gunman who opened fire at a Portland-area mall, saying it "looked to be a random shooting."
She said employees shut the doors, and the mall was crawling with police.
Macy's employee Mariah Saldana told KGW that she was sitting by the door "watching what was going on and then some guy just ran by in a white mask and an assault rifle and then I look out because I hear a few shots and he's … and he’s sitting there and he's pointing the gun at some people."
"We ran to the fitting room, grabbed some people then ran out to the back exit to get out of there," she added.
"It was just shot after shot after shot. It was terrible. It was like a massacre," witness Kira Rowland told the station.
Pedro Garcia, 24, told the Oregonian that he had been on his way to the Panera Bread Co. to buy sandwiches when he heard at least six shots.
"I could smell the gunpowder," Garcia said. "That's what pretty much what made me run."
NBC's Mike Taibbi reports from Clackamas, Oregon, where a gunman opened fire inside a mall, killing two people and badly injuring a third before he killed himself.
Rhodes said some people had hidden in break rooms and bathrooms in the mall and that teams of police were working their way through the mall to bring them out.
He said the number of people in the area making calls had overwhelmed cellphone towers.
Rhodes said police do not believe there was a second shooter.
News reporters interviewed the mall Santa, who promised he would return to Clackamas Town Center on Wednesday.
Roberts said their thoughts and prayers went out to the victims and their families.
"For all of us, the mall is supposed to be a place we can all take our families, feel comfortable, this is the holidays … these things are never supposed to happen. We have a young lady at the hospital fighting for her life right now," he said.
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I don't need a gun nor do I want one. For the insecure that think they need one just because our constitution gave us that right, they show the ugly and violent side of our society to the world that laughs at us. The person behind the gun is the problem but not having them readily available for every nut job to get, is a problem too. A shame our soldiers go to war and many times sacrifice their lives to keep us safe at home and yet we have those at home that insist on having their toys, 8 cylinder SUVS, McDonalds just because they can. Sometimes we have to give up certain things to maintain a civil society. Education should teach us morals and having or playing with guns should be left for soldiers and the police. It's disgraceful to see how our people are killing each other at home while other countries survive just fine without them.
@Jim-2982776
Hmm..seems like the racist part of you just can't help it. Sorry to burst your little idiotic bubble... seems like "white guys" go off the deep end and go on these killing rampages shooting at everyone one like ducks in a pond. I mean movie theaters, malls, schools, you name it. But keep thinking "black guys " are the real problem.
Funny...they(reporter) mentions "male" but no ethnicity what so ever...let it would have been a dreaded "black guy" this post would fill up with nothing but racist vitriol and comments to no end.
The NRA is in denial that such incidents happen very seldom in countries that restrict guns. On the other hand, this is business as usual in America, where guns are easy to obtain. See a pattern there?
I doubt that many NRA members have traveled outside of the US. They have no idea what it's like.
American rednecks fight for their right to spew death and torture with the help of criminal organizations like NRA and America's environment and wildlife destroying, propaganda spewing, corporate "republican" crooks. When the gun owners are prevented from shooting up people in malls, they spread out to the last remaining forests to prove their "manliness" with a high powered rifle against a frightened deer or small bear. These are the ultimate cowards. No wonder America and their minions in Canada are one of the centers of smuggled and endangered wildlife from Africa, etc. Along with capitalist slavery China which is America's partner and model, greed and criminality has become the guideline for America's "democracy"
This sounds like another crazy white guy beserk kind of shooting. It is almost always some deranged white guy.
Our gun ownership laws are not doing the job of keeping deadly weapons out of the hands of crazy people, or stupid people. I don't see any real solutions to this because there are so very, very many guns in the hands of so very, very many people. These guns ARE weapons of mass destruction because they kill so many people with so little effort and can be had by anyone.
It is mostly white guys who are defending owning guns. it is mostly white guys who commit this type of crime, mostly. It is mostly those on the conservative side of politics who defend this right. Maybe there should be some qualifying price to pay for the right to own guns. Maybe some type of probe into some private orifice should be the qualifying factor, such as they proposed for women who are seeking reproductive rights.
Most businesses (hotels, restaurants, stores) in large cities in India have a metal detector. Too bad this is unacceptable in the US as people have to have their freedom to kill.
For godssakes America, get rid of your gun mentality. It's beyond a joke. How many more deaths do you want?
Just another Democrat P.Oed. because his State is now a Right to work State. They did threaten violence. I guess this was it.
Where did it say he was a Democrat? You're an idiot..it's the GOP NRA buttsuckers that insist on everyone's right to carry an assualt rifle. Why wasn't your John Wayne ass there protecting everybody?
Guns don't kill people, men with guns kill people.
Only women should be allowed to own guns
"America fix it or lose it". I've been hearing that one since the '60s.
Nobody ever thought about "If it ain't broke don't fix it".
Guns don't kill people, they make your neighbor trigger happy. Feel safe now?
Uhhm - gun sales were skyrocketing in the past months since Aurora. I am just wondering, where are all those concealed-carriers who are supposed to keep us safe in such situations? Shouldn't there be some around everywhere by now, just by sheer numbers of gun sales?
No problem with any competent person owning a gun,but nobody NEEDS a high powered assault weapon other then law enforcement and the military. You don't NEED to collect these weapons,don't NEED them for hunting or target practice. Of course the NRA pushes these guns and would like ALL gun regulations to be gone. More and more sick,violent people have EASY access to these weapons thanks to the NRA. They have the blood of thousands of innocents on their evil hands. But of course owning a assault rifle is more important then a persons life.
It's a good thing he could get himself an assault rifle. There was probably not a single deer in the neighborhood so as long as you to have to resort to hunting humans, assault rifles are definitely the way to go. More bang - and more faster! - for your buck! Thanks NRA!
For all of the pro gun blowhards: Doesn't Oregon have a conceal carry law? If so, why weren't all you John Waynes shooting back at this guy? As for the one who commented that the mentally ill have guns; that's exactly what's wrong with the right to carry. THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO CARRY, TOO!!!! As long as there's confidentiality in mental health records, as there should be EXCEPT when applying for a FOID card, you are going to have this happening. So the next time you go see Santa, don't forget your 9mm..Fools
They were hiding in the restroom cleaning the crap out of their pants.
"For all of us, the mall is supposed to be a place we can all take our families, feel comfortable, this is the holidays … these things are never supposed to happen." WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The mall is the High Church of Capitalism.
NRA gun nuts value their guns over peoples lives. The NRA has brain washed you well Jethro! Yes you need that AK-47,it's great for hunting humans,I mean squirrels.
In Dallas, a Cowboy player was killed when his fellow Cowboy drove drunk and crashed his car...I propose we ban all cars and alcohol, because its obvious the cars and alcohol kill people...not people???
Why does the Sheriff talk about the mall as if it was somehow sacred ground where people congregate to have some sublime experience? Our consumerist culture really has run amok when people are talking about a glorified collection of stores as if it was some cathedral of worship.
Perhaps by prosecuting a killers family and holding them responsible for their actions some of this would stop. THe parents of the psychopath obviously did a pisspoor job of raising him
Dorey,
You sound like one paranoid person so worried about the safety of your family! Do you live in California? It is time to move to a safer community and forget the guns to protect your family. My town most people don't even lock their doors during the day and night. Crime is almost none existent!.
When will our leaders have the courage to face the fact we have gun issues to deal with in this country. I respect our right to bear arms but with so many senseless shootings we must deal with this issue at some point. How many have to die before we face up to this problem.
Just one more case where even half a dozen people out of 10,000 people in the mall, carrying concealed weapons could have at least slowed the shooter down or stopped him before he got too far into his twisted fantasy. At least there were no more victims than there were.
If more people had guns more people would have been shot. Nobody would have had time to stop the shooter and the chances of friendly fire increase. Ban semi-automatic weapons and handguns.
I don't know the answer to the rampant amount of guns on the streets, the ease in which someone can get one. But I do know it is high time we had the conversation and tried to come up with an enforceable gun control law that keeps guns out of the hands of people that shouldn't have them while protecting the rights of people who do want them and are responsible gun owners. The NRA needs to quit beeing totally unballanced and recoginize there is a serious problem in this country and putting a gun in everyone's pocket isn't the answer.
What time is it? Close to Three-Thirty. What's new? That guy in the white mask with a gun. What do you think he is doing? To me, he just looks like an average American at the mall, with an assault weapon.