Late Thursday evening, around 7:30 p.m., there was a shooting in the food court of Vancouver Mall that left one person dead and two others injured, according to police reports. Shoppers recounted the chaos as they heard gunfire and scrambled for safety, while some chose to stay put and hide.
Initial reports indicated that the shooter was dressed entirely in black and wearing a clown mask, last seen fleeing toward JCPenney. As of late Thursday night, the suspect remained at large.
At the time of the incident, a family-friendly Halloween event was taking place inside the mall when an unknown individual opened fire in the food court area.
Tragically, one person was shot dead while two others sustained injuries; however, their conditions were not disclosed. By approximately 8:30 p.m., police reassured everyone that the immediate threat had passed and confirmed there was no ongoing danger inside the mall.
Vancouver police shared updates on social media platform X during this time.
Detectives were actively working to identify the shooter using surveillance footage from the mall, which is home to over 125 stores like Macy’s, H&M, Hobby Lobby, and JCPenney—situated near where Interstate 205 meets State Route 500.
One witness, Jadyn Christy from Vancouver, described how he was leaning against a railing on the second floor when he suddenly heard gunshots ringing in his ears—he estimated there were between five and ten shots fired.
Meanwhile, his pregnant girlfriend along with her four-year-old son and another close friend with their child were inside Hot Topic when it all unfolded.
“I quickly understood that something was seriously wrong,” Christy recounted. He dashed into the store, shouting, “Get out! There’s a shooter!” as he rushed to gather his girlfriend, her son, and a friend.
Chaos erupted as people inside the store panicked, knocking over boxes in their haste to escape. “It was total mayhem,” he described.
Christy and his group made a break for their car outside the mall. Meanwhile, crowds were gathering outside, and even more people were still entering as I yelled, “Shooter! Shooter! Run for your lives!” he said.
I sprinted to our vehicle as fast as I could. While he felt relieved they made it out unscathed, he noted that the mall was packed and security seemed overwhelmed by the situation.
“This place was supposed to be safe,” Christy remarked. The mall had organized an evening trick-or-treating event that began at 5 p.m., set to run until 8 p.m. Elliott Hunt was hanging out with friends near Round1 Bowling & Arcade on the second floor when he heard what sounded like two loud bangs from the food court but initially thought someone might have dropped something heavy.
They all turned toward the food court just in time to hear four more shots ring out in quick succession. At that point, it became painfully obvious they were gunshots, he recalled. What followed were horrific screams echoing around them as everyone took off running.
He was hanging out with a group of friends, one of whom had two little kids—a 4-month-old and a 1-year-old.
They chose to spend Halloween at the mall since it was chilly and raining outside. But then they heard gunshots, and they all rushed out through the second-floor doors by Jimmy John’s.
There were so many people trying to escape that Hunt’s friend couldn’t get his daughter’s stroller through the crowd. So, he just picked her up and left the stroller behind, according to Hunt.
Once they finally made it outside, there were tons of tactical police officers, fire trucks, and ambulances everywhere. Hunt called another friend who worked at a pet store on the first floor below the food court; she told him that she and her coworkers were stuck in a back room for about an hour until police came to get them out of the mall.
It was really scary for Hunt to think that someone had been shot so close by. He grew up in Woodland and Vancouver and had actually worked at the arcade in that mall for two years—he used to meet friends there all the time just to hang out.
“People were just trying to have a good time,” he said.
The police announced that anyone who took shelter after the shooting could leave through any exit, but they also set up a reunification area near Hobby Lobby for families looking for each other.
Vancouver police worked late into Thursday night clearing out the mall.