‘As serious as it gets’: FBI stops Oregon teen’s plot to bomb and shoot shoppers at WA mall

The FBI thwarted an improvised explosive attack and a potential mass shooting that was intended to take place at Three Rivers Mall in Kelso last month.

A teenager, whose name will not be released due to an effort to limit public disclosure of a minor, was arrested May 22 by Columbia County Sheriff’s Office deputies after his plans to set off an explosive at a shopping mall in Washington and shoot people as they fled the movie theater there were reported to the FBI on May 19, law enforcement leaders said Thursday.

The mall is approximately 50 miles north of Portland off I-5.

“This plot was as serious as it gets,” FBI Portland Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson stated. “We, along with our partners, moved swiftly to interrupt this violent plan and to protect our community.”

The teenager arrested for planning the attack is a Columbia County resident who, according to the FBI, shared nihilistic, violent extremist ideology and the plans in online chats. The suspect was placed under court-authorized surveillance for public safety concerns.

“The suspect demonstrated the intent and means to carry out their plan, which included precise details such as a map of the mall, a route the shooter would follow, a plan to use an improvised explosive device commonly known as a chlorine bomb to incite panic, and then to shoot mall patrons as they were exiting the movie theatre before ultimately committing suicide at a pre-determined location in the mall,” the FBI wrote.

Investigators found “annotated schematics,” the weapons the teenager planned to use, and even the clothing he planned to wear. Three handguns, boxes of ammunition, four knives, and five digital devices were seized during a search, according to The Oregonian.

The Columbia County District Attorney’s office is prosecuting this case.

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