Mall suspect ‘zombie-like’ during arrest

Law enforcement officers work at the crime scene outside the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, on September 23, 2016. Picture: Dean Rutz, The Seattle Times, via Associated Press

Law enforcement officers work at the crime scene outside the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, on September 23, 2016. Picture: Dean Rutz, The Seattle Times, via Associated Press

Published Sep 26, 2016

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Oak Harbour, Washington - The 20-year-old man suspected of killing five people with a rifle at a Macy's make-up counter had a string of run-ins with the law in recent years, including charges he assaulted his stepfather, and was described by a neighbour as so “creepy, rude and obnoxious” that she kept a Taser by her front door.

As investigators tried to piece together information on Arcan Cetin, who was arrested on Saturday evening after a nearly 24-hour manhunt, a picture emerged of a troubled young man. Court records show more than a half-dozen criminal cases in Island County alone since 2013.

Authorities said the gunman in the attack at the Cascade Mall in Burlington opened fire in the department store's cosmetics department on Friday night, killing a man and four females ranging from a teenager to a senior citizen. The gunman then fled.

Cetin said nothing and appeared “zombie-like” when he was taken into custody on a sidewalk outside his apartment complex about 50km away in Oak Harbour by a sheriff's officer who recognised him as the suspect in the rampage, authorities said.

Cetin immigrated to the US from Turkey and is a legal permanent resident, officials said.

As the surrounding area absorbed news of the arrest, critical questions remained, including the gunman's motive. The FBI said early on Saturday that there was no indication the shooting was terrorism, but local authorities said later in the day that they were ruling nothing out.

On September 17, a 20-year-old man stabbed 10 people at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. Authorities said they are investigating the attack by Dahir Ahmed Adan as a possible act of terrorism.

On Sunday, investigators searched Cetin's vehicle and the apartment complex and were seen carrying boxes from a rear, upstairs unit. The four-unit building was surrounded with yellow police tape. Detectives would not say what they found.

Amber Cathey, 21, lived in an apartment next to Cetin for the past three months and said she was so frightened by him that she complained to apartment management and kept a stun gun handy. Cathey said she blocked him on Snapchat after he sent her a photo of his crotch.

“He was really creepy, rude and obnoxious,” Cathey said. She said she would try to avoid him by walking the long way around to her apartment if she saw his car in the parking lot. The two were in high school together as well, and Cathey said he acted the same way then.

The Seattle Times reported that court records show Cetin faced three charges of assaulting his stepfather. The newspaper said Cetin also was arrested on drunk-driving charges. It gave no details on when the arrests took place or how the cases may have been resolved.

In the assault case, Cetin was told by a judge last December that he was not to possess a gun, the newspaper reported. However, the stepfather urged the judge not to impose a no-contact order, saying his stepson was “going through a hard time”.

Attempts to reach Cetin's family for comment by phone and social media weren't immediately successful. It wasn't clear if Cetin had a lawyer yet. A man who came to the door on Sunday morning at an Oak Harbour address believed to be where Cetin's stepfather and mother live asked an Associated Press reporter to leave the property.

Social media accounts apparently belonging to Cetin showed he had a fondness for the military and video games.

A Twitter account showed, among other things, selfies, photos of him in younger years and pictures of Turkish food. He once participated in paintball and said he “can't wait for Halo 5”, the first-person shooter video game. He also tweeted: “Shout out to the ROTC peeps.” A Facebook account showed he liked military-related sites.

Cetin also appeared to have blogs on the site Tumblr that had not been updated in many months. They included seemingly random posts about serial killer Ted Bundy, a collection of selfies, the top-secret Area 51 Cold War test site and photos of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The two blogs linked back to each other and one of them linked to what appeared to be his Twitter page.

Oak Harbour is a city of 22 000 on Whidbey Island with many military families associated with the nearby Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

Sheriff's Lieutenant Mike Hawley said he spotted Cetin from a patrol car and immediately recognised him as the suspect in the shooting rampage.

“I literally hit my brakes, did a quick turn, I jumped out,” Hawley said. “We both jumped out with our guns, and he just froze.”

Cetin was unarmed and was carrying a satchel with a computer in it. “He was kind of zombie-like,” Hawley said.

No immediate charges were brought against Cetin, who awaited a court appearance on Monday.

The names of the dead were not immediately released by police.

* Associated Press writers Phuong Le in Burlington, Washington, Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon, Kimberlee Kruesi and Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.

ANA-AP

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