Page 4 - Paramus Mall News Today

Stressful situation for law enforcement. >> for law enforcement and for the employees in the stores. i -- you cant not comment. they have all been locked down, taking care of their employees, when they have been instructed, they are rounding up their fellow employees and customers and getting them out as quickly as possible. >> this began around 9:20 and has been going on for an hour and 30 minutes. there are a lot of -- its a very stressful situation. sill ongoing inside that mall. thats the la...

Active shooter incident is the most deadliest. thats when most of the damage will be conducted by your shooter. >> why? >> because it takes two minutes for a police response. two to three minutes for a police response. if theres an alarm, an alarm went out through the mall, you have to have a specific alarm saying this alarm says active shooter, lockdown. apparently what some of the people did in this mall was bring their gates down and stay inside their stores. that was a great move. all right?...

Came into the mall to see if they can identify the vehicle and i tempt to identify who the person may be. >> is it a concern when you have people inside the mall and they are evacuating people out of the mall you dont want the shooter to blend in with people who are evacuating. >> thats the appointment point that was made by the woman before. they were frisked by police. and im sure they checked if there were garments consistent with what the early reports of what the shooter were wearing. >> th...

His brother. >> it would look like an ak-47 but it is not an ak-47. its where you take the handgun and modify it to make it look like something it is not. but it is a lawful gun owned by the brother. >> reporter: police say shoop has no history of mental illness but say he abused drugs. >> we do believe that the main motive for what he did tonight was suicide, whether self-inflicted or god forbid suicide by cop which no one ever wants to see. it looked like that was his motive. >> reporter: so t...

Picture we have a large presence of many jurisdictions of police. there are 25 units here just outside the nordstrom. some passerbis by that we talke to indicated there is a gunman still loose in the mall. a passerby reported that to me. most people have made it to their cars and have moved out but its they are saying that the mall is a lockdown. other than what you can see with the cameras. the cameraman is pan right now. at the other end of the mall there is another large presence. we heard --...

But it is not an ak-47. its where you take the handgun and modify it to make it look like something it is not. but it is a lawful gun owned by the brother. >> reporter: police say shoop has no history of mental illness but say he abused drugs. >> we do believe that the main motive for what he did tonight was suicide, whether self-inflicted or god forbid suicide by cop which no one ever wants to see. it looked like that was his motive. >> reporter: it is a tragic situation, horrifying for the peo...

Hes 20 years old. his body was discovered just about an hour ago with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head area. he himself went to the area where he did this. it was a very difficult area of the mall, behinded some construction. >> reporter: no one else was injured in the shooting. state police say the gunman fired shots at security cameras. the visor was lifted up. i was able to see his face. it was a white male. he wasnt really aiming at anything. he was walking past the apple store. ...

He was possibly wearing a tactical vest. the weapon involved here seemed to be some sort of a rifle or long weapon. if it is a rifle, thats not the kind of thing you happen to be carrying. >> certainly not. which -- i -- as i was listening i was forming the opinion of somebody with an agenda. you know, the attire and the fact is it a rifle, to your point its not a concealed handgun or an automatic weapon where you are coming in. it sounds like someone who was intent. there was as may or adversar...

Were going to talk to one of them, a young woman we talked to about an hour ago, she, as i understand it, is still inside the mall. were going to talk to her in a couple of minutes when we reestablish contact with her. bergen county officials, last we heard there was no information of whether anyone had been shot by this -- by this alleged gunman. there had been a report from the new jersey state police that the gunman had fired at security cameras which would make it harder to find out where th...

To you, kate. this is a 20-year-old that police say busted into the mall behind me, just after 9:00 p.m. last night, shooting six rounds and ultimately taking his own life just after 3:00 a.m. >> we heard four gunshots. we took everybody, we went in the back of the store, we locked ourselves in with 13 people in total, including me. >> reporter: hundreds of police, s.w.a.t. and emergency teams swarmed the westfield garden state plaza mall in search of a gunman who authorities believe fired six r...