Police identify Burlington Mall shooter as Turkish man

WASHINGTON

Washington state police on Sept. 25 arrested a suspect behind a deadly shooting at a mall in Burlington, identified as a man of Turkish origin, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Arcan Çetin, 20, has been named as the alleged perpetrator of the shooting, which killed four women and one man at Cascade Mall on the night of Sept. 23. 

Çetin was reportedly born in Turkey and graduated from high school in 2015.

Lt. Mike Hawley with the Island County Sheriff’s Office was with a reserved deputy when the pair arrested Çetin, who was walking down a local street, according to media reports. 
“He [Çetin] said nothing,” Hawley said. 

“Kind of zombie-like is best I could describe him,” he added. 

Online records show Çetin was arrested last June for misdemeanor assault. He was not convicted, but ordered to undergo a mental evaluation in August. He was in compliance with weekly mental counseling as of last month. 

Çetin also faced charges in 2014 for domestic violence and was ordered to stay away from his parents after a no-contact order was issued. 

He was not convicted, and the order was later lifted during a hearing in which his parents were present. 
Officials on Sept. 25 declined to release the identities of the victims of the shooting pending autopsies and notification of families, but a family friend identified one of the women as Sarai Lara, a 16-year-old cancer survivor, according to local TV station KOMO. 

“She was a strong girl, she told me a lot about her life and I trusted her with everything,” the unnamed individual told the station. “She gave me advice and helped me through a lot. She told me about [losing] her hair and everything.” 

Officials had initially placed the death toll at four and described the suspect as Hispanic.