Gunman in US shopping mall shooting spree dies of injuries

LOS ANGELES— A man who opened fire with a handgun at a shopping mall in Boise, Idaho, killing 2 people and injuring several others, including a police officer, died on Tuesday from wounds sustained during the violence a day earlier, authorities said.

Investigators have yet to determine whether the fatal injuries resulted from an exchange of gunfire with police at the scene, or from a self-inflicted gunshot before he was taken into custody, according to Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee.

The motive for Monday's midday bloodshed remained under investigation, Lee told reporters in a briefing a day after the attack at Boise Towne Square mall on the west end of Idaho's capital.

The suspect was publicly identified on Tuesday as 27-year-old Jacob Bergquist, a Boise resident. Police Chief Lee described him as having had previous run-ins with mall security and police for "disruptive behavior."

"We have had contact with him in the past, we did not have any reason to arrest him," Lee said, adding that Bergquist was not believed to have had any employment history at the mall.

Police also disclosed new details about the incident, saying that the suspect, dressed in black, fired multiple shots inside the mall before he fled the building and was confronted by officers arriving on the scene within 2 1/2 minutes.

He credited the swift response by law enforcement with preventing a "more grave tragedy."

The slain victims were identified by the county coroner as Joseph Acker, 26, a mall security officer who was the first person shot, and Roberto Arguelles, 49, who was gunned down near an elevator and died at a hospital.

Two women, aged 52 and 23, were injured as the suspect proceeded through the mall firing rounds into the floor, and a third woman, 68, was injured in her vehicle outside the building, apparently caught in the crossfire between police and the gunman, authorities said.

A Boise police officer called to the scene was shot at through the window of his vehicle and was injured by shards of broken glass, though evidence shows that gunfire struck the hat he was wearing, police said.

Another man was taken by private vehicle to a hospital and treated for injuries suffered in a fall while fleeing the mall, police said.

None of the wounded people's injuries were considered life-threatening, authorities said.

Lee said the suspect did all his shooting with a handgun, but a police statement online said he was carrying multiple firearms.

-reuters-

'Multiple people injured' in shooting at US mall: media

Eight people were injured in a shooting at a US mall in Wisconsin on Friday according to police, who said they were still hunting for the shooter.

The FBI and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's office tweeted that their officers were on the scene at the Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, supporting the "active" response by local police.

"When emergency personnel arrived, the shooter was no longer at the scene," the Wauwatosa Police Department said in a statement.

It said the wounded included seven adults and one teenager who had been rushed to hospital. The seriousness of their injuries was not immediately known, but Wauwatosa mayor Dennis McBride told ABC news their injuries were not life threatening.

The shooter was identified by police as a "white male in his 20s or 30s."

Numerous workers at the mall took shelter inside the building as the shooter rampaged, according to videos circulating on social media.

Shopper Jill Wooley told a local news station she was inside with her 79-year-old mother when the gunfire erupted.

"I knew right away it was a gunshot and they just kept coming one right after the other," Wooley told CBS affiliate WDJT. "We just dropped to the floor."

"I think we're all born with it," she said. "We've all been exposed to public shootings like this. I think all of us have thought of what we would do in a situation like this."

"We are disheartened and angered that our guests and tenants were subject to this violent incident today," the company that operates the mall said in a statement.

"We are thankful for our partners at the Wauwatosa Police Department and we are cooperating with them as their investigation develops," it added.

Agence France-Presse