12/12/2012

Mall shooting victims: Hospice nurse, entrepreneur

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts identifies the victims of a deadly shooting at an Oregon mall, saying there was "no apparent relationship" between the two and the shooter.

By Isolde Raftery, NBC News

Before shots rang out at the Clackamas Town Center Tuesday night, the mall was packed with children lined up to sit on Santa's lap, and middle school students who had just been released from school. There were 10,000 people in the mall that afternoon and three were shot: Cindy Yuille, 54, Steven Forsyth, 45, and Kristina Shevchenko, 15. 

Yuille and Forsyth died; Shevchenko remains hospitalized at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital after being shot in the chest. She is expected to recover. 

Related: Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall, cheats death twice 

The gunman, identified as 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts, killed himself inside the mall. 


Yuille was not the type of person who enjoyed the mall, her family told the Oregonian. She preferred hiking and climbing. But she headed to the mall – once known for where Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding trained – possibly to buy a hat that her stepson had requested. 

Cindy Ann Yuille, 54, of Portland, Oregon, was one of two fatal shooting victims on Tuesday.

Originally from Southern California, Yuille moved to Portland in the early 1990s. Later, working as a hospice nurse at Kaiser Permanente, she met her husband, Robert Yuille, also a nurse on the hospice care team at Kaiser.

In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said she worked for Kaiser for 16 years. 

"Cindy was a beloved caregiver for the kind and compassionate support she provided patients and families at times of impending loss and need," the statement said. Counseling services were made available to Kaiser employees.

Steven Mathew Forsyth, 45, of West Linn, Ore., was one of two fatal shooting victims on Tuesday at the Clackamas Town Center in Oregon, south of Portland.

Reached by phone, a neighbor told NBC News that she didn't want to talk about Yuille's death: "We're very sad right now," she said.

Yuille had lived in Northeast Portland for about 20 years, records show. She was a mother to Jenna Passalacqua, who had recently graduated from the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication. She was a stepmother to a 13-year-old boy.

A statement from the family said Yuille was "everybody's friend." "She was a wonderful person who was very caring and put others first," they said. 

Steven Forsyth was a husband, a father of two and an entrepreneur who founded Coastoms, which sells coasters carved from wood. His family described him as "one of the most passionate people with a true entrepreneurial spirit." 

"He had a great sense of humor and a zest for life," the statement said. "He had vision and a belief in others that brought great joy and value to many lives. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him."

Dennis Glasgow, who had worked with Forsyth in the radio industry, told the Portland Business Journal that Forsyth was well liked. "It's still pretty shocking," Glasgow said. "He was a very popular guy, very gregarious. He was a smart business guy and a good radio man."

According to his LinkedIn profile, Forsyth attended high school in the Portland area and the University of San Diego. He described himself as a "business developer." 

At OHSU, the parents of Kristina issued a statement saying that their daughter remains in serious condition but is "alert and talking." 

"She informed us today that the first person to be thanked is Alyona, her friend and schoolmate at Clackamas Middle (College), who immediately called 911 and remained by her side until the emergency service providers arrived."

Courtesy of the Shevchenko family

Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was shot in the chest Tuesday afternoon at the Clackamas Town Center in Oregon. She is expected to survive.

Her brother Yevgeniy wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to the shooting: "The bullet went through bruising her lung, it missed any vital organs and it missed her ribs. She will need 2 more operations. we appreciate any and all support including your prayers! Thank you."

Yevgeniy also revealed that his sister had survived a head-on car collision over the summer. 

"Many of you have noticed the earlier tragedy that happened in our family a couple months ago where 7 of my siblings and 2 friends were involved in a fatal car accident. You could read it online for yourself, but yes it did happen and yes Kristina was in that car accident," the post read, and linked to an article in the Columbian newspaper about a Beaverton, Ore., man who was killed after veering into a van driven by a 27-year-old member of the Shevchenko family.

NBC's Elizabeth Chuck contributed to this report.

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