Man dies after shooting at Tukwila, Wash., mall

TUKWILA, Wash. – The Southcenter Mall in Tukwila was locked down Saturday night as police went store to store in an effort to find a young man who shot two other young men, one of them fatally, inside the mall.

Police spokesman Mike Murphy told the Associated Press there were thousands of shoppers at the mall when the shooting took place just before 3:45 p.m.

The shooting victims were taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where one died. Murphy said he did not know the condition of the other victim.

Murphy said the gunman used a pistol and fired multiple shots. He said at least two people were detained for questioning, but neither was the shooter.

As police searched for the shooter, they allowed store employees and customers remaining in the mall to exit in groups, Murphy said.

He said there was a possibility the assailant “may have escaped” with the crowd.

The assailant and the two victims were all in their late teens or early 20s. Murphy said no other people were injured.

SWAT teams from all over Puget Sound converged on the mall to help search for the shooter, who is believed to have gotten into an altercation with the two victims. But it was unknown what led to the shooting, the relationship between the shooter and the victims, or the relationship, if any, between the victims.

In March, a 21-year-old man was wounded in gunfire among several people outside the mall. In September 2005, two men were shot and killed in a car parked at the mall during what appeared to be a drug deal.