Arcan Cetin, the man charged with killing five people with a rifle at a Washington state mall last fall, was found dead over the weekend in his jail cell.
Mr. Cetin, 20, who was taken into custody after a Sept. 23 rampage inside a Macy’s department store at Burlington’s Cascade Mall, was found Sunday night hanging in his cell at Snohomish County Jail, authorities said.
“He apparently committed suicide,” Chris Ingalls, a reporter for a local NBC affiliate, said Monday. “I think they found his body last night in the county jail. … If he’s put on suicide watch that’s usually pretty intensive and labor intensive for the jail. Snohomish County Jail in particular has been under quite a bit of scrutiny after some deaths of inmates there a few years ago. They were really minding their p’s and q’s when it comes to these fragile inmates that they house.”
Mr. Ingalls added that Mr. Cetin made at least one previous suicide attempt and was treated for two weeks at a hospital in 2015.
“He’s definitely had these ongoing mental health issues for some time,” the reporter said.
Mr. Cetin was scheduled to stand trial on five counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
“We’re understandably in shock over this development,” the family of shooting victim Wilton “Chuck” Eagan said in a statement released Monday, the station reported. “Our heart goes out to Mr. Cetin’s family. We pray that the man repented to God before his death. While this event puts to rest our fear of his release, we harbor no ill will towards Mr. Cetin or his family and pray for their comfort as we know all too well the pain of grief.”
