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A 20-year-old man wearing a motorcycle helmet and dressed in all black walked into a busy New Jersey mall minutes before it closed Monday night and began shooting, sending terrified customers running and trapping hundreds more in the building overnight as police searched for him."
Hours later, he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a remote area of the 2.2 million-square-foot building, officials said Tuesday morning.
No one was injured in the gunfire at Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus. The gunman, identified as Richard Shoop, fired six rounds, striking an elevator, escalator and several store facades about 9:30 p.m. Monday. He was using a Sig Sauer rifle modified to look like an AK-47 that he stole from his brother earlier in the day, officials said.
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said it wasn't clear whether he intended to hurt people.
Officials said Shoop was a drug user.
"He really was a sweet kid, I don't know what went wrong," said one of Shoops' neighbors.
The mall will remain closed Tuesday.
NBC Ida Siegal and Michelle Kim
5 comments:
Great mall. Go there all the time, especially for the iMax.
The kids go there on Friday night to cruise.
He needed more range time.
It's hard to miss when your target is yourself, but some do.
Just as rock smashes scissors, I guess bullet pierces motorcycle helmet.
Maybe these people hate Westfield malls. Ever think of that?
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