MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Cascade Mall shooting suspect admits to killings

Sep 26, 2016, 5:50 AM | Updated: 3:41 pm

arcan cetin murder charges...

Arcan Cetin appears in Skagit County Court on Sept. 26, 2016. (KIRO 7)

(KIRO 7)


              Investigators are seen at the apartment complex that has been tied to Arcan Cetin, the suspected Cascade Mall shooter, in Oak Harbor, Wash., Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016. Authorities carried boxes from a rear, upstairs apartment in the four-unit building. (AP Photo/Martha Bellisle)
            
              Amber Cathey, next-door nighbor and former high school classmate of Cascade Mall shooting suspect Arcan Cetin, stands in front of their building in this Oak Harbor, Wash., complex, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016. As a neighbor, she said he was "creepy, rude and obnoxious" and was so frightened by him that she complained to apartment management and kept a Taser by her front door. (AP Photo/Martha Bellisle)
            
              Investigators are seen at the apartment complex that has been tied to Arcan Cetin, the suspected Cascade Mall shooter, in Oak Harbor, Wash., Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016. Authorities carried boxes from a rear, upstairs apartment in the four-unit building. (AP Photo/Martha Bellisle)
            A suspect in the Cascade Mall shooting Friday night was arrested Saturday night in Oak Harbor. (KIRO 7 image) Arcan Cetin's Oak Harbor High School year book photo. He graduated in 2015. (KIRO 7) Arcan Cetin was arrested Saturday night, less than 24 hours after a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington. (KIRO 7 image) Police released this surveillance image on Saturday. (Washington State Patrol) Police released this surveillance image on Saturday. (Washington State Patrol) Police released this surveillance image on Saturday. (Washington State Patrol) Police released this surveillance image on Saturday. (Washington State Patrol) 
              Washington State Patrol Sgt. Mark Francis, a public information officer, talks to reporters Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Wash.  Authorities said Saturday several people were dead after the shooting Friday night and the suspect was still at large. The identity of the suspect, his motive and how he got a rifle into the mall remained unanswered. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            Employees and mall patrons were allowed to retrieve their cars from the parking lot on Saturday. (KIRO 7 image) Police are looking for this man, suspected in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington that left three women dead and two people injured. (Skagit County Dept. of Emergency Management) Police outside Cascade Mall in Burlington after a shooting at Macy's Friday night. (Skagit County Dept of Emergency Management) Troopers say 5 people were killed in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night. (KIRO 7 image) Troopers say 5 people were killed in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night. (KIRO 7 image) Troopers say 5 people were killed in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night. (KIRO 7 image) Troopers say 5 people were killed in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night. (KIRO 7 image) Troopers say 5 people were killed in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night. (KIRO 7 image) Troopers say 5 people were killed in a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night. (KIRO 7 image) Police staged outside the southwest entrance at Cascade Mall in Burlington. (KIRO 7 image) Police search for evidence of a suspect in the Cascade Mall parking lot in Burlington. (KIRO 7 image) 
              Law enforcement officials work under a tent, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, outside the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Wash.  Authorities said Saturday several people were dead after the shooting Friday night and the suspect was still at large. The identity of the suspect, his motive and how he got a rifle into the mall remained unanswered. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              A Burlington Police Dept. officer stands guard at a side entrance to the Macy's department store at the Cascade Mall, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Burlington, Wash.  Authorities said Saturday several people were dead after the shooting Friday night and the suspect was still at large. The identity of the suspect, his motive and how he got a rifle into the mall remained unanswered. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              A worker removes a stretcher from a Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office vehicle Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Wash. Friday night, a man with a rifle opened fire in a Macy's Department Store at the mall, killing several people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              Emergency personnel stand in front of an entrance to the Cascade Mall at the scene of a shooting where several people were killed Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Burlington, Wash. Police searched Saturday for a gunman who opened fire in the makeup department of a Macy's store at the mall north of Seattle, killing several females, before fleeing toward an interstate on foot, authorities said. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
            
              A worker carries a stretcher at the Cascade Mall Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Burlington, Wash. Friday night, a man with a rifle opened fire in a Macy's Department Store at the mall, killing several people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              Rachel Marsh, 15, right, and Selena Orozco, 15, left, carry flowers as they attend a prayer service, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Central United Methodist Church in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. The service was held in regard to Friday's fatal shooting of several people at a Macy's department store at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington, Wash. Both girls said they knew one of the victims of the shooting. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              Rachel Marsh, 15, right, and Selena Orozco, 15, left, light candles as they attend a prayer service, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Central United Methodist Church in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. The service was held in reaction to Friday's fatal shooting of several people at a Macy's department store at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington, Wash. Both girls said they knew one of the victims of the shooting. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              Nick Torset becomes emotional as he kneels after lighting a candle during a prayer service, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Central United Methodist Church in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. The service was held in reaction to Friday's fatal shooting at a Macy's department store at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              Rev. Cody Natland, right, carries a candle during a prayer service, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, after he lit five other candles on a table at the Central United Methodist Church in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. A candle is for each victim of Friday's shooting a Macy's department store at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            Lt. Mike Hawley with the Island County Sheriff's Office and Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton at a news conference following the arrest of the Cascade Mall shooting suspect. (KIRO 7)

The 20-year-old man suspected of shooting and killing five people at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Friday night is charged with five counts of first-degree premeditated murder.

Arcan Cretin is held on $2 million bail.

Cetin admitted to police officers that he is the man holding a rifle in the mall’s surveillance video, according to court documents. He also admitted to the killings.

Arcan Cetin: What is known about previous run-ins with the law

Court documents state that Cetin had dinner with his father around 4:30 p.m. on the night of the shooting. The two had a falling-out before he left for work at a gym on Friday night — shortly before the shooting at 6:53 p.m.

After the incident, Cetin’s dad told investigators that his Ruger 10/22 rifle, and some .22 ammunition were missing from his home. According to documents, a Ruger rifle was used in the shooting, along with a 25-round magazine.

Video from the Cascade Mall shows Cetin arriving at the mall in his car. He then walked through a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, into the mall, then through Macy’s and exited to the parking lot. Cetin moved his car closer to an entrance at Macy’s, retrieved a rifle from the trunk of the car, and walked back into the department store. According to security footage, he was in Macy’s for about one minute. After the shooting, Cetin left the rifle on the makeup counter and left the store. Video also shows Cetin driving away from the mall.

Police then followed up with Cetin’s co-workers in Oak Harbor, and his father and mother, who told them where he lives. The documents say that he is closer to his mother than his father, and that both parents helped pay for his apartment.

Cetin was arrested near his Oak Harbor home on Saturday, nearly 24 hours after he allegedly walked into a Macy’s department store at the mall on Friday and shot five people — one man, and four women.

The Cascade Mall shooting: Arcan Cetin taken into custody after 24-hour manhunt

This is not the first time Cetin has had a run-in with the law. There are more than half a dozen records of criminal cases in Island County where he lived in the past three years.

The Seattle Times reports that he had been charged three times for assaulting his stepfather. He had also been arrested for drunk driving. In December 2015, a judge ordered that he not be in possession of a firearm. This was in relation to an assault case on his stepfather, who asked the judge to remove a no-contact order between them, saying that Cetin was “going through a hard time.”

Trooper Mark Francis said detectives have searched Cetin’s home and questioned him at length. As for whether Cetin was working alone — that remains unclear.

“We feel confident that we have the shooter,” said Washington State Trooper Mark Francis. “Whether or not anyone else was involved, that’s what we’ll be determining.”

Investigators have not yet determined a motive. Detectives learned that Cetin had an ex-girlfriend who worked at a Macy’s, but police say she worked at a different store.

Detectives have also searched Cetin’s car and home — they removed boxes from his home, but it is unknown what those boxes held. Police have interviewed people connected to Cetin, such as his neighbor, 21-year-old Amber Cathey who has lived next to the alleged shooter for three months.

“He was really creepy, rude and obnoxious,” Cathey told the Associated Press. The two went to high school together at Oak Harbor High School and she said he acted similar in class as well. He graduated in 2015.

She said she was frightened of him — so much so that she kept a stun gun near her while in the apartment. She told the AP that she had to block him on Snapchat after he sent her a photo of his crotch.

Cathey went as far as to avoid Cetin by keeping a lookout for his car, and walking a much longer way around her apartment if she saw his vehicle.

Dakota Kineon went to Oak Harbor High School with Cetin. She told reporters that he had sexually harassed her and others at the school.

“It doesn’t shock me, sadly,” she said of Cetin being the alleged shooter. “It breaks my heart that it happened.”

Another high school classmate, Matthew McClimans, described Cetin as “normal” but that he was a little weird. The two were in ROTC together.

“Every once in a while he’d make inappropriate comments: Things that are rude or in bad taste,” McClimans said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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