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| |weapons = ] ] ] | |weapons = ] ] ] | ||
| |susperp = Jacob Tyler Roberts | |susperp = Jacob Tyler Roberts | ||
| |dfen = Nick Meli (private citizen, ] permit holder, armed with ])<ref name="Clackamas man, armed, confronts mall shooter">{{cite news |title=Clackamas mall shooter faced man with concealed weapon |author=Mike Benner |url=http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html |newspaper=KGW |date=December 17, 2012 |location=Portland |accessdate=January 8, 2013}}</ref><ref name="koinlocal6.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.koinlocal6.com/mostpopular/story/Armed-man-faced-Clackamas-gunman-did-not-shoot/VWkeHrBOfk-Wu7OcAH0RqQ.cspx |title=Armed man faced Clackamas gunman; did not shoot |publisher=Koinlocal6.com |accessdate=2013-01-05}}</ref> | |||
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Revision as of 19:02, 24 March 2013
| Clackamas Town Center shooting | |
|---|---|
 Memorial to victims of shooting at mall entrance | |
| Location | 12000 SE 82nd Avenue Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 45°26′10″N 122°34′26″W / 45.436°N 122.574°W / 45.436; -122.574 |
| Date | December 11, 2012 c. 3:25 p.m.-c. 3:47 pm (PST) |
| Attack type | Shooting, murder-suicide |
| Weapons | Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle |
| Deaths | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 1 |
| Defender | Nick Meli (private citizen, concealed carry permit holder, armed with Glock 22) |
On December 11, 2012, a shooting occurred at the Clackamas Town Center in Portland, Oregon, United States. The gunman, 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts, ran into the shopping center wearing tactical clothing and a hockey mask and opened fire on shoppers and employees with a stolen Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, firing as many as 60 shots, killing two people and seriously wounding a third person before committing suicide. Roberts had no connection to any of his victims, and it was believed to be a random act of violence.
Shooting
Prior to the shooting, Roberts is stated to have stolen an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle from an acquaintance of his. He arrived at the Clackamas Town Center by car, parking it at the south side of the mall between a Macy's and a Chipotle store. He ran into the mall through a department store at around 3:25 pm, wearing a white hockey mask and a load-bearing vest and armed with the AR-15; he was also carrying several fully loaded magazines. About 10,000 people were inside the mall at the time. People who first saw him run into the mall believed the tactical clothing and hockey mask was a paintball outfit and that the rifle was a toy.
Standing in a large atrium, Roberts first opened fire at the mall's food court that was across from him at his left, after shouting, "I am the shooter!" 46-year-old father of two and youth sports coach Steven Forsyth, who was sitting by a rented kiosk and talking with his father on his cell phone, was shot in the head and killed. The next to be shot was 54-year-old shopper Cindy Ann Yuille, a hospice nurse and mother of two who was fatally shot in the back by what appeared to be a "stray bullet". 15-year-old Kristina Shevchenko, who was walking through the mall with her friend to reach the Town Center MAX station, was the final person to be shot; she received a bullet to the chest, but she survived and made it out of the mall, where she was treated for her gunshot wound.
At this point, hundreds of people fled the mall after hearing the gunshots, but many remained inside and dashed to cover. Roberts headed further toward the food court, firing at 16-year-old employee Alina Pavlenko, who was over 100 feet away, but missed. He then turned back and headed toward a JCPenney store. He attempted to reload the AR-15 at that point, but was unable to do so, the weapon having apparently jammed. During that time, Nick Meli, a concealed carry permit holder, drew his Glock 22, and took aim at Roberts but did not fire since there was an innocent person behind Roberts. Meli asserts that Roberts saw him, and that this may have contributed to Roberts' decision to commit suicide.
Roberts then ran into a back storage corridor, where he encountered employee Rok Sang Kim, who had returned from recycling boxes and therefore hadn't heard the gunfire. Roberts pointed the rifle at him, but didn't shoot him, instead running down a flight of stairs onto a lower floor. There, he committed suicide. In the chaos of the first few minutes after the shooting, there were expectations of mass casualties. Police responded to the scene minutes later and spent the following hours searching the mall for hiding civilians, injured victims, and a possible second shooter, while dozens of ambulances arrived with the expectations of treating dozens of wounded victims, but treated only Kristina Shevchenko for a serious gunshot wound.
By the next day, the mall was cleared of civilians, but continued to remain under lockdown. It is believed Roberts targeted random people and did not have a specific target in mind.
Victims
Two people were killed in the shooting, 54-year-old Cindy Ann Yuille and 45-year-old Steven Forsyth. A third person, 15-year-old Kristina Shevchenko, was also shot in the chest and seriously injured, but survived. Several others also suffered minor bruises and scrapes suffered while fleeing.
Perpetrator
In the day following the shooting, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office identified the shooter as 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts (born March 16, 1990), who lived in the Lents neighborhood in southeast Portland. Raised by his aunt, Roberts' biological mother died at the time of his birth, and he had never met his father. He attended Milwaukie High School in Milwaukie, Oregon for the first three years and later transferred during his senior year to Oregon City High School in Oregon City, Oregon, graduating in 2008. He attended Clackamas Community College in 2009. Two years prior to the shooting, Roberts worked at a gyro restaurant in downtown Portland. Roberts lived with a few roommates in a house ten minutes away from the shopping center. He had plans of joining the United States Marine Corps, but he abandoned these dreams after a bicycle accident that broke his foot. Prior to the shooting, he had broken up with his girlfriend, sold his belongings, resigned from his job, and alleged that he was planning to move to Hawaii.
Reaction
When President Barack Obama delivered a speech regarding the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (the same day of that shooting), he mentioned other shooting rampages that occurred in the U.S. within previous months, and including a reference to the Clackamas Town Center attack.
References
- ^ Mike Benner (December 17, 2012). "Clackamas mall shooter faced man with concealed weapon". KGW. Portland. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
- ^ "Armed man faced Clackamas gunman; did not shoot". Koinlocal6.com. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- Carson, Teresa (December 12, 2012). "Oregon mall shooting appears to be lone, random rampage". Reuters via Chicago Tribune.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=(help) - Lydia Warren (December 13, 2012). "Jacob Tyler Roberts: Gunman in Oregon mall shooting identified". Daily Mail. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- ^ "Clackamas Town Center shooting: 22 minutes of chaos and terror as a gunman meanders through the mall"
- ^ Martinez, Michael (December 12, 2012). "'I have lived one crazy life so far,' Oregon mall gunman says on Facebook". CNN. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
- Johnston, Ian; Raftery, Isolde (December 11, 2012). "Two people shot to death at mall in Portland, Oregon; gunman also dies". NBC News. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
- ^ Bella, Rick (December 12, 2012). "Clackamas Town Center shooting: Killer was Jacob Tyler Roberts; fatalities were Steve Forsyth, Cindy Ann Yuille". The Oregonian via OregonLive.com. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=(help) - Anderson, Jennifer (December 12, 2012). "Shooter: 'I'm the kind of person who's going to do what I want'". Portland Tribune.
- "Connecticut school shooting: Barack Obama calls for 'meaningful action, regardless of politics'". The Daily Telegraph. December 15, 2012.