The masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two and seriously injuring a third before killing himself, was trying to “kill as many people as possible.”
The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask, black clothing and a bullet proof vest, tore through the mall just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, entering through a Macy’s store and heading to the food court and public areas spraying bullets, according to witness reports.
Police have identified the gunman, but have not released his name, Sheriff Craig Roberts told “Good Morning America.”
“We have been able to identify the shooter over this last night,” Roberts said. “I believe, at least from the information that’s been provided to me at this point in time, it really was a killing of total strangers. To my knowledge at this point in time he was really trying, I think, to kill as many people as possible.”
Garrett called the shooting one of the worst scenarios for law enforcement, as malls are more crowded than ever during the holiday shopping season. First a crowded movie theatre on a premiere night, now in a crowded mall. It’s getting scary to even walk outside now a days.
“The biggest thing for a mass shooter is the control and empowerment for the shooting,” Garrett said. “It isn’t uncommon for shooter to wear a costume, or sometimes simply to dress in black. In this case, apparently, he wore a hockey mask. He went there being someone other than who he is in reality because it gives him power.”
“The thing about mass shooters is that they almost always are premeditated. They are planned,” Garrett said. “This shooter I’m sure went through some period of steps before he actually reached going to mall, and there’ll be signs or systems either through friends, online, through relatives that will play into understanding why he committed this act.”
I would like them to look into these peoples brains during an autopsy. With all the concussion talk in football and steroids in baseball. Why doesn’t the government invest in some research for these people who just kill strangers for no reason. Why haven’t we run studies and got government officials to hold meeting with the top minds in the country to figure what triggers these types of people.
I have the answer: because it’s not media worthy! As an audience we only want to know What happened. we don’t care about why and how it got to this point. Tell us what happened, how many people got killed and who stopped them. After that we don’t care, no follow up story, no reasoning. Protecting or past time is way more important. Who cares days after a mass killing, but we care about RG3 being concussed or Sammy Sosa corked bat. I hope our society changes their mindset. People need to take notice of what’s going on.
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