BURLINGTON, WASH.—Authorities say the suspect in a deadly shooting at a Washington state mall shooting has been arrested.

The Skagit County Department of Emergency Management said via Twitter Saturday evening that the suspect had been captured.

No other details were immediately available.

Article Continued Below

A news conference was set for Saturday night.

A gunman opened fire at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Wash., Friday night, killing four women and one man before fleeing.

Law enforcement staged a massive search over more than 20 hours for the suspect, initially described by witnesses as a young Hispanic male wearing black.

Authorities had said that a rifle had been found at the scene.

Article Continued Below

The motive was unknown for the shooting about 97 kilometres north of Seattle. The FBI was assisting local authorities, but it said there was no evidence to point to terrorism.

Click to expand

After the gunshots rang out at the mall just after 7 p.m. Friday, people fled, customers hid in dressing rooms and employees locked the doors of nearby stores. A helicopter, search teams and K-9 units scoured the area for a rifle-carrying man in a police response that included more than 200 officers.

“There are people waking up this morning and their world has changed forever,” Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton said Saturday at a news conference. “The city of Burlington has probably changed forever.”

Authorities said four females, ranging in age from teens to seniors, died after the gunman opened fire in the makeup department of a Macy’s store. An adult male who was wounded in the shooting died early Saturday, officials said. His age was not given and no identifications of the victims were released

Mount Vernon Police Lt. Chris Cammock said that authorities recovered the weapon from the scene. He described it as a “hunting type” rifle.

Police are seeking a Hispanic man wearing black and armed with a rifle, said Washington State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mark Francis. ( Skagit County Department of Emergency Management/ AP)

Cammock says officers are reconstructing the entire scene at the Cascade Mall, scanning for evidence.

The FBI was assisting local authorities, but Michael Knutson, assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI, said there was no evidence to point to terrorism.

Stephanie Bose, an assistant general manager at Johnny Carino’s Italian restaurant near the Macy’s store at the mall, said she immediately locked the doors after hearing about the shooting from an employee’s boyfriend.

“He was trying to go to the mall and people were screaming,” she told The Associated Press. “It was frantic.”

She said he could see police at the doors with assault rifles.

It took hours for teams to search the 40,000-square-metre mall late Friday night. They escorted shoppers and workers who had sheltered in place outside.

“It took several hundred to do that . . . clearing every room, to make sure the suspect wasn’t still on the scene,” Cammock said.

The parking lot was closed and emergency management officials told people they would be able to retrieve vehicles Saturday, though the mall closed for the day.

Gov. Jay Inslee said tragedy had struck the state.

The Cascade Mall is an enclosed shopping mall that opened in 1990. It features J.C. Penney, TJ Maxx, and Macy’s stores, among other stores, restaurants and a movie theatre.

With files from The Associated Press