2016 Cascade Mall shooting

On the evening of September 23, 2016, a mass shooting occurred at Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington. Five people were killed when a gunman entered a Macy's store shortly before 7:00 p.m. and opened fire with a stolen Ruger 10/22 rifle. Video footage later released by authorities showed the shooter randomly targeting victims, first killing a teenage girl near clothing racks before moving to a cosmetics counter, where he killed one man and three women at close range. Other people in the store escaped unharmed due to their distance from the shooter. The gunman then abandoned his weapon and fled in a blue four-door vehicle.

The five victims killed were Sarai Lara, 16, a sophomore at Mount Vernon High School and cancer survivor; Chuck Eagan, 61, a Boeing maintenance worker from Lake Stevens; Belinda Galde, 64, a probation officer with the Snohomish County District Court; Beatrice Dotson, 95, Galde's mother; and Shayla Martin, 52, a make-up artist employed at the Macy's store. Eagan died the following day at a Seattle hospital from three gunshot wounds, including one to the head.

The gunman was identified as Arcan Cetin, a 20-year-old who had emigrated from Turkey as a child and was living in Oak Harbor, Washington. He was arrested without incident the evening after the shooting while walking in Oak Harbor, and on September 26, 2016, he confessed to the shooting. Cetin was charged with five counts of aggravated murder, a charge upgraded from an initial charge of first-degree premeditated murder; aggravated murder in Washington carried a possible sentence of life without parole or, at the time, the death penalty. He was undergoing evaluation for mental health concerns. Cetin had a prior record, including seven cases in Island County District Court between 2013 and 2015 and a July 2015 arrest for fourth-degree assault, after which he was ordered into mental health counseling that he completed in March 2016.

No motive for the shooting was officially determined. Cetin told investigators he was interested in the activities of ISIS but declined to say whether the group had inspired his actions. He had posted images of serial killer Ted Bundy and Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on social media, alongside gaming-related content on a YouTube channel that did not include expressions of intent to commit violence. Some reports suggested a possible connection to the breakup of a relationship with a former Macy's employee, though she had not worked there in months and lived elsewhere at the time; authorities alleged Cetin called out women's names during the attack.

Separately, reporting found that Cetin had registered and voted in three elections despite early uncertainty about his citizenship status; he was later confirmed to be a naturalized U.S. citizen and therefore eligible to vote. On April 16, 2017, Cetin died by hanging in his cell at the Snohomish County Jail; a Sheriff's Office investigation concluded it was a suicide, and he was never tried for the killings.