Oregon mall shooter identified as Jacob Tyler Roberts (VIDEO)

GlobalPost

Police today identified the shooter in a deadly rampage at an Oregon shopping mall as Jacob Tyler Roberts, the Chicago Tribune reported. 

Using a rifle stolen from an acquaintance, Roberts shot dead two people and wounded one more before shooting himself at the Clackamas Town Center in the Portland suburb of Happy Valley on Tuesday afternoon. 

The Oregonian newspaper wrote that one of its sports columnists was in the mall at the time of the incident and reported that dozens of shots were fired in the food court, triggering pandemonium in the mall filled with thousands of Christmas shoppers. 

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts told USA Today that the gunman fired "as many as 60 shots" and noted that the death toll would have been much higher had his rifle not jammed. 

There appears to be no connection between the gunman and his victims, police said.

The dead were identified as Cindy Ann Yuille, 54, of Portland and Steven Mathew Forsyth, 45, of nearby West Linn, USA Today reported.

Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was airlifted to hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest. She was to undergo surgery and was listed in serious condition, The LA Times said.

The mall remained closed today as police continued their investigation.

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“It was very apparent he had a mission set forth to really to take the lives at the mall,” Sheriff Roberts told NBC News.

The Oregonian cited emergency dispatchers as saying the gunman was seen with an AR-15 rifle and possibly wearing body armor near the food court around 3:29 p.m.

The semiautomatic AR-15 is similar to the military-issued, fully automatic M-16. 

As many as 100 police officers, including SWAT teams, state troopers, ATF and FBI agents descended on the mall, The Oregonian said.

Emergency responders included 22 firetrucks and a "fleet of ambulances."

Pedro Garcia, 24, of Happy Valley, said he was just outside the mall when he heard at least six shots.

"But what caught my attention, I could smell the gunpowder. That’s what pretty much made me run. The gunpowder is what made me react."

A woman told KOIN television that she saw a man wearing a camouflage outfit and hockey mask running through Macy's and wielding an assault rifle.

"Everyone ran toward the exits at that point to get out," she said.

Word quickly spread of a shooter going store to store in the mall that had an estimated 9,000 shoppers and 2,000 employees, Christina Fisher told KOIN.

"We were told to stand in a group by the top of the escalators and stay away from the windows out of the aisle. ... We stood there for probably a good 20 minutes. All of the sudden, somebody came through with a radio, yelling 'get down!'"

Police said people hid in break rooms and bathrooms in the mall as teams of police worked their way through the mall to bring them out.

Authorities closed entrances and exits into the mall parking lot Tuesday evening, Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police told CNN.

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