Three Dead In Oregon Mall Shooting

It’s the holidays and the Clackamas Town Center is decorated with greenery and seasonal decorations. A jolly Santa is listening while good boys and girls share their Christmas wishes.  It could be a typical December afternoon in any mall across the United States.

A young man parks his 1996 green Volkswagen Jetta in front of the second-floor entrance to Macy’s.  The young man exits his vehicle wearing a hockey-style mask, wearing load-bearing vest and is armed with an Ar-15 semiautomatic rifle.

The young man enters the story and makes his way quickly into the mall.  The Christmas music was interrupted by series of rapid-fire shots in short succession.  The nightmare had begun.

The mall Santa, Brance Wilson, was waiting for the next child's Christmas when shots rang out.   Santa dove for the floor and kept his head down as he heard shots being fired upstairs in the mall.

"I heard two shots and got out of the chair," said Mr Wilson, 68. "I thought a red suit was a pretty good target."

Authorities estimated that 10,000 workers and shoppers were at the Town Center when the shooting began, and workers took quick action to lock down their stores while many shoppers headed to the parking lots for cover.

According to police, the gunman shot himself as police converged on him, but not before fatally shooting Steve Forsyth, 45, of West Linn, Oregon, and Cindy Ann Yule, 54, of Portland.  A third victim, Kristina Shevchenko, remains in a serious condition.

The shooter has been identified as Jacob Tyler Roberts.  According to law enforcement the shooter did not have a criminal record.

I checked out his Facebook page but found nothing that would portend this event. 

According to some reports, Roberts had planned to go into the Navy after he graduated from high school, but he hurt his leg, so he wasn’t eligible.  After that, everything kind of fell apart for him.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.  It's amazing that more people weree not hurt or killed in this senseless act of violence.