Oregon Mall Gunman Identified as Jacob Tyler Roberts
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Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office(PORTLAND, Ore.) — The masked gunman who killed two people in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., was identified Wednesday as Jacob Tyler Roberts.
Roberts, 22, was armed with a stolen AR-15 semi-automatic weapon, Sheriff Craig Roberts told a news conference Wednesday. He was not wearing a bullet-proof vest as previously reported.
Earlier Wednesday the sheriff told ABC’s Good Morning America the gunman was intent on killing “as many people as possible.”
“At this time we do not understand the motive of this attack except to say no apparent relationship between suspect and victims,” the sheriff said at the news conference. The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask and black clothing, tore through the mall just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, entering through a Macy’s store and heading to the food court and public areas spraying bullets, according to witness reports.
“We have been able to identify the shooter over this last night,” Roberts said. “I believe, at least from the information that’s been provided to me at this point in time, it really was a killing of total strangers. To my knowledge at this point in time he was really trying, I think, to kill as many people as possible.”
Police said Wednesday that Roberts had stolen the gun from someone he knew, and was equipped with a load bearing vest and “several” fully loaded magazines. Police are still trying to determine how many shots were fired.
Roberts described himself on his Facebook page as an “adrenaline junkie,” and said he is the kind of person who thinks, “I’m going to do what I want.”
Roberts, who attended Clackamas Community college, said on his Facebook page that he worked in a gyro shop in downtown Portland and posted a picture of himself firing a gun at a target. His Facebook photo showed graffiti in which the words “Follow Your Dreams” were painted over with the word “Cancelled.”
His shooting victims were identified as Cindy Ann Yuille, 54, and Steven Mathew Forsyth, 45.
A third shooting victim, Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was taken to a hospital and has undergone an initial surgery, according to a Facebook page set up by her family members. Family members said a bullet bruised her lung but avoided piercing any major organs.
Police said Wednesday that Roberts parked his car outside of the Macy’s department store, entered the mall on the second floor, and then “moved quickly” toward the food court, firing shots. Yuille and Forsyth were hit by bullets near the food court, police said. Other shoppers provided medical aid to the victims.
Roberts’ gun jammed briefly while shooting at the food court, but he was quickly able to resume shooting, police said.
Roberts then ran down a hallway and a flight of stairs to the first floor of the mall, near an REI store, where he apparently shot himself, police said.
Shevchenko was hit on the second floor but made it outside to the first floor, where she met police and was taken to the hospital, police said.
Investigators searched Roberts’ home and car in the wake of the shooting, but did not disclose what they found. They confirmed that his fingerprints matched prints in a law enforcement database, though they did not find any crimes he was convicted of.
Sheriff Craig Roberts said that he believed that the gun jamming, in addition to the quick response of mall employees to enact lockdown procedures, prevented more individuals from being shot and killed during the spree.
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