Cops Say Seattle-Area Mall Shooting Could Be Gang Related

TUKWILA, Wash. – A young gunman remains at large following a shooting at a suburban Seattle shopping mall that left one teenager dead and another seriously wounded, but police weren't saying Sunday night if they were close to catching him.

Police officer Mike Murphy said Sunday night there would be no new news until at least Monday morning on the gunman who shot and killed the two people Saturday afternoon.

Murphy left a message on his police cell phone, saying "there will be no further updates" on the case and he would not be available to talk to the media until 9 a.m. PST Monday.

At least four or five people were detained and questioned after the shooting at Southcenter Mall, but none was the shooter, Murphy said earlier Sunday.

Murphy said Sunday the shooting stemmed from a fight between two groups totaling no more than half a dozen people "who were angry with each other" and may have been gang related, adding that police expected to identify the gunman and make an arrest soon.

Only one weapon was fired and investigators found no evidence that anyone else who was involved had a gun, he said.

"This was not a shootout and this was not a random shooting," Murphy said.

A spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center confirmed the identity of the dead teenager as Daiquin L. Jones, 16, and the wounded young man as Jermaine McGowen, 15, whose condition was upgraded Sunday from critical to satisfactory.

No other injuries were reported.

Jones had gotten out of jail Friday and McGowen was due in court Monday on burglary charges, authorities said. Other details of their criminal records were not available Sunday.

The mall was jammed with pre-Thanksgiving Day shoppers when the shooting occurred, Murphy said. During an ensuing six-hour sweep of the complex by police from numerous jurisdictions, employees and customers were allowed to exit in small groups.

Afterward, Murphy said the assailant "must have got out with the crowd."

He said Sunday he didn't know whether surveillance video cameras at the mall captured any images of the shooting or the fight that led to it

The mall, which covers 1.7 million square feet and includes more than 240 stores following a recent $240 million expansion, reopened on schedule Sunday morning with security officers visible.

"Clearly, such a senseless act in our community heightens everyone's state of awareness and concern. Our security precautions reflect that heightened state," mall management said in an unsigned statement issued Sunday.

The statement said mall owners would not comment because of the investigation but praised "the rapid response of the Tukwila police."

Pamela Wood of Bellevue, who brought four 12-year-old girls to a showing of "Twilight" at a nearby movie theater, told The Seattle Times, "The day after (a shooting) is probably a lot more secure. It might be the safest place today."

Investigators were trying to determine what led to the shooting and the relationship between the shooter and the victims.

Chauncey Williams, an Army soldier from Fort Lewis, said he was leaving the J.C. Penney store when he saw two men arguing, then saw one draw a gun and fire.

"I've got the heebie jeebies," Williams told The Times. "It's like I'm back in Iraq or something."

Chris Plummer told KIRO Television a fight developed in a group of young people when one standing next to him pulled a gun and fired six or seven rounds.

"Everybody just stopped," said Mark Nickels, 51 of Seattle, a shopper. "Everybody thought something fell. Then a second or two later, there was a second shot and then everybody scattered. People were running to the [exits] or running to the stores to hide."

Christine Pierce, 18, of Seattle, said she is a regular shopper at Southcenter and showed up Saturday to visit her sister, who works at the mall.

"They need tighter security," Pierce told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In March, a 21-year-old man was wounded in gunfire between several people outside the mall. In September 2006 an 18-year-old man was shot to death after two rival gangs happened onto each other at a bus stop near Southcenter. In September 2005, two men were shot and killed in a car parked at the mall during an apparent late afternoon heroin deal.