Oregon mall shooting leaves 3 dead, including shooter

[Penny Lane 8,159]

(CNN) -- The masked gunman worked his way across the mall, terrifying holiday shoppers who had no clue where he'd fire next.

Entire swaths of Clackamas Town Center turned silent, except for the blasts from the man's rifle and the ensuing screams. Even the mall's Santa dropped to the ground.

"I thought I was going to die," mall employee David Moran said. "The gunshots were so loud, it was very scary. ... Kids were crying. Parents were crying, too."

Kira Rowland was holding her 6-month-old baby in Macy's when the shots rang out.

"I threw my baby into the stroller and just started running because everybody was screaming and everybody just started to run," she said.

Witnesses say at least 20 shots were fired Tuesday inside the mall, about 11 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon.

By the end of the rampage, three people lay dead, including the gunman from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. One young woman remains hospitalized, Clackamas County Undersheriff Matt Ellington said Wednesday morning.

Authorities have not identified the victims, pending notification of relatives. Investigators have tentatively identified the shooter, believed to be in his early 20s, but are not releasing his name until they get confirmation.

The gunman wore a hockey mask and jogged through Macy's wielding a rifle, a woman told CNN affiliate KOIN.

As some panicked customers bolted for the exits, others ducked under store counters or hid behind racks of clothing.

Erin Quackenbush-Baker was in a more vulnerable position -- in the middle of the mall, at a kiosk with her grandmother and three young children.

"My 5-year-old was covering her ears and crying. I was frantic to find a place to run, and I looked back (at) my son in my stroller and glass is falling over us," she said. "The shots were getting closer, and it sounded like he was getting closer."

"I felt like sitting ducks, where we were."

During a brief halt in the gunfire, a man in black fleece helped rush the family into a nearby Sephora store. That's where Quackenbush-Baker and her children hid for an hour, "waiting to see if we were going to be shot or not."

As word spread that the shooter was moving from store to store, customers at Sears burst into tears, Christina Fisher told KOIN.

"We were told to stand in a group by the top of the escalators and stay away from the windows out of the aisle. ... We stood there for probably a good 20 minutes," she said. "All of the sudden, somebody came through with a radio, yelling, 'Get down!'"

As the melee unfolded, some customers watched television news reports about the shooting from inside the Sears entertainment center, Tylor Pedersen told affiliate KGW.

Antonio Charro spotted a wounded woman near a cell phone store and tried to help, but to no avail.

"She had apparently been shot in the chest, and I couldn't get her turned over to help her," said Charro, who had been shopping at the mall with his daughters. "There was no one around. She wasn't breathing."

Authorities are poring through surveillance footage from the mall to try to determine what exactly happened.

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said about 10,000 people were in the mall at the time.

No law enforcement officers fired any shots when they arrived, sheriff's Sgt. Adam Phillips said.

The 1.4 million-square-foot mall will remain closed Wednesday as investigators look for clues about the attack. But the motive might never be known.

Rowland said she's grateful she got distracted while shopping and didn't venture further into the mall.

"I think if I hadn't stopped to smell that perfume, that maybe me and my baby wouldn't be here today."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/12/justice/oregon-mall-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

We need more guns and ammo to pout an end to this kind of stuff!

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

We need more guns and ammo to pout an end to this kind of stuff!

Wonder when the gun lovers will comment on this one...

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Wonder when the gun lovers will comment on this one...

They always post the stories when someone defends themselves or their homes with a gun, but never post the stories when guns are used for the bad things.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Evylin

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

They always post the stories when someone defends themselves or their homes with a gun, but never post the stories when guns are used for the bad things.

Guess it doesn't fit their narrative, I don't have a problem with people owning guns, but when these like this happen, makes you wonder.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Guess it doesn't fit their narrative, I don't have a problem with people owning guns, but when these like this happen, makes you wonder.

I feel the same way. I don't generally believe that guns ARE the problem. But I also don't know what the solution to situations like this is. Why does it happen more here than anywhere else?

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I feel the same way. I don't generally believe that guns ARE the problem. But I also don't know what the solution to situations like this is. Why does it happen more here than anywhere else?

Because when you have a lot of freedom, people tend to abuse it more. In some of the countries I have visited, it is very hard to get a gun so there is less gun violence. In other place, that have wars going on for decades, the violence is worse because everyone is fighting.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Wonder when the gun lovers will comment on this one...

They'll be around to let you know that the issue is that people were unfortunately not packing and thus unable to defend themselves. They are dead or injured for no other reason than their irrational refusal to bring heat to the mall. Just wait, that argument will be made in due time.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Mr. Big Dog

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I feel the same way. I don't generally believe that guns ARE the problem. But I also don't know what the solution to situations like this is. Why does it happen more here than anywhere else?

I'd speculate that the fact that there are more hand guns than people populating this country has a little something to with it. It certainly creates a lot more opportunity for these type events. Look at it positively, though. News of a deadly shooting at a mall will surely decrease my wife's interest in frequenting the mall which saves me a bundle.

[SMOKE 1,426]

you people are sad. a nutter decides to kill himself & take a few people with him. and its the 'guns' fault. its not the murderer shooting the gun, but its the guns fault.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

you people are sad. a nutter decides to kill himself & take a few people with him. and its the 'guns' fault. its not the murderer shooting the gun, but its the guns fault.

What's sad is that these nutters all have easy access to the guns with which they kill innocent people. It's that easy access to guns that I fault not the gun itself. When you have a country populated by more handguns than people, these things are bound to happen. There's no question whether the next such incident occurs, there's only a question of how soon it will happen and how many innocent people will lose their lives. That it will happen is a given.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

you people are sad. a nutter decides to kill himself & take a few people with him. and its the 'guns' fault. its not the murderer shooting the gun, but its the guns fault.

So you think guns have nothing to do with people who lose their lives to them? If he didn't have a gun do you think he would have ran in the mall with a knife and did the same thing? Any weapon that gives you range gives you courage to do these things.

[SMOKE 1,426]

What's sad is that these nutters all have easy access to the guns with which they kill innocent people. It's that easy access to guns that I fault not the gun itself. When you have a country populated by more handguns than people, these things are bound to happen. There's no question whether the next such incident occurs, there's only a question of how soon it will happen and how many innocent people will lose their lives. That it will happen is a given.

i think we should outlaw cars too. what do you think? with such easy access another vehicular homicide is a guarentee.

[^_^ 5,021]

sigh

the second amendment exists. this fight is not worth the time and energy, comrades.

i advise you train your sights on the filibuster instead, now that ####### is sexy.

[decocker 7,198]

you people are sad. a nutter decides to kill himself & take a few people with him. and its the 'guns' fault. its not the murderer shooting the gun, but its the guns fault.

people do not become suicidal and harm others because they have access to a gun. that's silly.