By Martha Bellisle
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Video footage taken by surveillance cameras in a Burlington mall that was made public Friday captured the fear and panic that broke out when a man carrying a rifle opened fire inside a Macy’s department store.
Some shoppers at the Cascade Mall ran and others hid behind clothing racks as a lone shooter with a rifle searched for his targets.
Five people were killed in the Sept. 23 shooting: Sarai Lara, a 16-year-old Mount Vernon High School student; Belinda Galde, 64, and her mother, 95-year-old Beatrice Dotson, who both lived in Arlington; Wilton Charles “Chuck” Eagan, 61, a Boeing employee from Lake Stevens; and Shayla Martin, who worked at the cosmetics counter at Macy’s. Martin’s sister is a longtime employee of the Daily Herald.
Arcan Cetin of Oak Harbor is being held on suspicion of five counts of first-degree, premeditated murder. Bail was set at $2 million. Prosecutors have until Jan. 6 to file formal charges.
The 14 clips of video were released late Friday by Skagit County in response to a public records request.
The video, taken from cameras throughout the store, show the shooter wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and black shorts, carrying a rifle in his right hand, as he walked and sometimes ran down aisles and between racks.
He veered off the main aisle between two clothing racks and shot the girl as she walked near the end of the rack. She immediately fell to the floor.
The shooter encountered a man who was running away. The man tripped and was shot.
The next clip shows a woman hiding inside the cosmetics counter island, while two other women lock arms in front of the counter and try to run away.
The shooter walked up to the counter and shot the woman behind the counter as she crouched near the floor. He then fired at the two women who held each other.
The shooter placed the rifle, a .22-caliber Ruger, on the top of the cosmetics counter and left the store.
Police captured Cetin, 20, the following night outside his Oak Harbor apartment complex and he made his first appearance in Skagit County District Court on Sept. 26.
Cetin’s stepfather, David Marshall, told reporters after the hearing that Cetin “has mental health issues.”
Cetin’s lawyers recently filed documents that aim to keep the prosecutor from getting access to Cetin’s mental health records.
Public Defender C. Wesley Richards filed a motion on Oct. 14 asking the judge to quash search warrants that were served on two psychiatrists who treated Cetin.
Assaults on his parents and inappropriate sexual behavior at school led judges to order mental health treatment for Cetin, but weekly counseling sessions failed to help him.
Court records obtained by The Associated Press detail a series of criminal charges and attempts to rehabilitate Cetin, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder and depression.
A court first ordered Cetin into treatment after he attacked his mother two years ago. He was following a program designed to erase that assault charge when he made unwelcome sexual advances toward two girls in his math class in 2015 and then punched his stepfather soon afterward, the documents say.
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