HAPPY VALLEY, Oregon -- A gunman opened fire inside an Oregon shopping mall on Tuesday in the middle of the busy holiday season, killing two people, critically wounding a young woman and terrorizing shoppers before shooting himself to death, police said.
The afternoon shooting rampage at the crowded Clackamas Town Center in the Portland suburb of Happy Valley touched off panic inside the mall, sending thousands of shoppers streaming out as police and fire crews arrived on the scene.
Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said the lone gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that law enforcement officers who descended on the scene had not fired a single shot inside the mall. A single weapon was recovered.
"The mall is supposed to be a place where we can take our families. He took the lives of two people and a young lady is at the hospital fighting for her life right now," Roberts said.
The wounded victim was taken by helicopter to a hospital where a spokeswoman said she was in serious condition.
The shooting started around 3:30 p.m. It was not clear how long it lasted, but some shoppers and employees hid in fear for at least two hours as teams of police checked to see whether there might be another shooter.
Police and SWAT teams established a perimeter around the scene and worked to evacuate the mall as they searched for the gunman. Video footage from inside the mall, aired on CNN, showed shoppers heading toward exits with their arms raised above their heads.
Roberts said that police, assisted by agents from the FBI and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were still combing through the mall for evidence late on Tuesday night.
A mall spokeswoman directed calls to law enforcement authorities. Clackamas Town Center is one of the Portland area's biggest and busiest malls, with 185 stores and a 20-screen movie theater.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber said in a statement released by his office. "I appreciate the work of the first responders and their quick reaction to this tragic shooting."
Man in Santa suit: 'Hit the floor'
The mall Santa was waiting for the next child's Christmas wish when shots rang out, causing the shopping mall to erupt into chaos.
About to invite a child to hop onto his lap, Brance Wilson instead dove for the floor and kept his head down as he heard shots being fired upstairs in the mall Tuesday afternoon.
"I heard two shots and got out of the chair. I thought a red suit was a pretty good target," said the 68-year-old Wilson. Families waiting for Santa scattered. More shots followed, and Wilson crept away for better cover.
Wilson was among hundreds of horrified people who ducked or ran for cover when a gunman, dressed in camouflage and a mask and possibly wearing body armor, fired dozens of rounds.
Kayla Sprint, 18, was interviewing for a job at a clothing store when she heard shots.
"We heard people running back here screaming, yelling '911,'" she told the AP.
Sprint barricaded herself in the store's back room until the coast was clear.
Jason DeCosta is a manager of a window-tinting company that has a display on the mall's ground floor. When he arrived to relieve his coworker, he heard shots ring out upstairs.
DeCosta ran up an escalator, past people who had dropped for cover and glass littering the floor.
"I figure if he's shooting a gun, he's gonna run out of bullets," DeCosta said, "and I'm gonna take him."
DeCosta said when he got to the food court, "I saw a gentleman face down, obviously shot in the head."
"A lot of blood," DeCosta said. "You could tell there was nothing you could do for him."
He said he also saw a woman on the floor who had been shot in the chest.
Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy's, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. There was a series of rapid-fire shots in short succession as Christmas music played. Patty said he dove for the floor and then ran.
3 dead after masked gunman opens fire at Portland mall
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3 dead after masked gunman opens fire at Portland mall
