[Note: March 13, 2020— Arian Cetin had apparently hanged himself in his jail cell in April of 2017.]
Following is a summary of this DailyMail article:
The day after he killed five people at a shopping mall in Burlington, Washington, Arian Cetin, 20, was arrested near his home on Saturday night. He is being charged with five counts of murder.
Cetin took three guns from his father before heading to Macy’s, where his ex-girlfriend once worked, but she quit several months ago and was not at the mall at the time of the shooting. He opened fire for about one minute, then set the rifle down on the counter and walked away.
Authorities report he was apprehended 30 miles from the scene of the crime in a “zombie-like state” on Saturday evening. Police lieutenant Mike Hawley responded to tips from the community and spotted Cetin, who he immediately recognized. “I literally hit my brakes, did a quick turn, I jumped out,” Hawley said. “He just froze.”
Cetin, who immigrated to the US from Turkey, is a legal permanent resident. He has been arrested once before in the county for assault, and the Seattle times reports that Cetin’s criminal record includes three domestic violence charges.
Classmates who knew Cetin at Oak Harbor High School said he was known for harassing girls in middle school and high school.
— Sarai Lara, 16, was a cancer survivor who battled the disease as a young child. Her mother, Evangelina, was shopping with her and they split up to go into different stores. Evangelina desperately tried to get to her daughter but was blocked from entering the store, and seven hours later it was confirmed that Sarai, who had just applied for a job at Denny’s to support her family, was one of the victims.
— Belinda Galde, 64, and her 95-year-old mother Beatrice Dotson were both killed in the cosmetics section. Galde was an employee with the Snohomish Country District Court since 1989. A statement issued by the court said she was an “amazingly kind and caring individual” who helped thousands of probationers find a better way to live.
— Chuck Eagan, a father with two daughters, had been at the mall with his wife when the shots rang out. He and his wife began to run but she fell down, and he was shot when he stopped to try to help her. He was a Boeing employee who was about to retire.
— Shayla Martin, 52, was working behind the makeup counter at the Macy’s cosmetics department when she was killed. Her sister said “She was so sweet. She was just very independent. She wanted to make her own way. She didn’t want to rely on anyone else.”