Arcan Cetin (20 August 1996 – 16 April 2017) was a Turkish-American man who carried out a mass shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington on 23 September 2016, killing 5 people with a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle. He was known to have been interested in the activities of the Islamic State, and he posted photos of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on his social media.
Biography[]
Arcan Cetin was born in Adana, Turkey on 20 August 1996, and he immigrated to the United States after his mother married a US citizen. He attended high school in Oak Harbor, Washington, and he worked as a bagger at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island commissary. Cetin would come to express interest in the activities of the Islamic State, posting photos of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on his social media; he was also interested in the activities of serial killer Ted Bundy. On 23 September 2016, he attended a movie theater at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, and he propped the door open with his cell phone, planning to come back and shoot up the theater. However, his phone was turned in to a theater kiosk by a moviegoer, and Cetin later retrieved it there, foiling his plan. He then walked into a Macy's store with his Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle and randomly targeted his victims, shooting dead five people at close range. He then tried to flee in a car, and he was arrested on Oak Harbor Road on the evening of 24 September. He was held at the Snohomish County Jail while being tried, and he hung himself on the night of 16 April 2017.