Man opens fire on holiday shoppers in mall

PORTLAND, OR (WWAY) — Police say a young man opened fire in a crowded mall of holiday shoppers in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. The gunman killed two people before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

One witness says, “And all of a sudden we heard a big bang, we covered our ears and we got down, and all of a sudden, like five seconds later we heard rapid fire, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Then I just took off running.”

The shots were heard throughout the shopping center. Another witness says, “we heard some people running and screaming so were hiding in the back but we did not know what was going on, we didn’t want to look through the windows or anything.”

Then, the swat team moved into Clackamas Town Center. Officers scoured the mall for any survivors.

Lt. James Rhodes of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office says, “the shooter is deceased, two dead and one transported to trauma. Additionally, I can confirm that the shooter is dead of an apparent self-inflicted
gunshot wound. By accounts there was no rounds fired by law enforcement involved today.”

Police and eyewitnesses say the gunman opened fire when he walked out of Macy’s into the food court.

Jacob Rogers witnessed the shooting and says, “everything became so real it was a lot like Virginia Tech and the accidents at Columbine and he came in with a hockey mask on you know so obviously he came in with the intent to kill.”