| Witnesses Kelly Lay and Mira Sytsma recount the terrifying moments when a man opened fired at Portland-area mall, killing two before turning the gun on himself. By Isolde Raftery, Ian Johnston and Becky Bratu, NBC News UPDATED at 1:12 p.m. ET: The masked gunman who killed two people and wounded a third in a shooting at an Oregon mall packed with holiday shoppers before committing suicide was identified Wednesday as Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22. The suspect opened fire with an AR 15 semi-automatic rifle that he had stolen from a person he knew, Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said at a morning news conference. "At this time we do not understand the motive of this attack," Roberts said, adding that the suspect apparently did not know any of his victims. EARLIER STORY: Witnesses who survived a terrifying shooting at an Oregon mall teeming with holiday shoppers described a scene of chaos and panic, and the sheriff said the carnage could have been much worse if the gunman's weapon hadn't apparently jammed. "He had a mission set forth to really take the lives of people within that mall," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Robert said. The food court near the Macy's at the Clackamas Town Center near Portland was buzzing with holiday shoppers Tuesday afternoon when a masked gunman announced "I am the shooter" and began randomly spraying bullets from a 223-caliber semi-automatic rifle, authorities and witnesses said. Two people were killed and a teenage girl was injured before the gunman, whose identity was not immediately released, fatally shot himself. "All of a sudden, I just heard a series of gunshots… boom, boom, boom, boom, boom… whatever the shooter was shooting at, they continued to shoot," shopper Bill Hoff told NBC station KGW. A law enforcement official said the shooter was 22 years old and had to be identified through fingerprints. He had no prior record, the official told NBC News. Mira Sytsma told NBC's Matt Lauer she was walking toward a store near the food court when she heard the first shots go off. "After the first couple of shots I had a feeling I knew what was happening," she said. Kelly Lay was in the food court when he heard "two loud booms," he told Lauer. Glancing to his left, he saw people running in panic. He ducked and hid behind a pillar, where two elderly women – including one in a wheelchair – had already taken shelter. Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts discusses the gunman who opened fire at a Portland-area mall, saying it "looked to be a random shooting." "As soon as I heard bullets hitting behind me, the wall, seeing it hit the tiles, basically the food signs above… and seeing the tiles break around me, I kind of got in fear and scared for my life," Lay said. He saw people running toward the exit and told the women to do the same. After helping the woman in a wheelchair, Lay took off running. Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice Sytsma saw one of the gunman's victims lying on the ground about 50 feet away from where she stood by a kiosk. Turning her head away from the victim, she caught a glimpse of the shooter. "I couldn't really see his eyes," she said. "I felt like I looked right at him and it was pretty scary to see him face to face like that." Sytsma and three other women ran for cover inside a store. People in line to get their photos taken with Santa immediately dove for cover, KGW reported, while others hid in break rooms and bathrooms. The mall Santa, Brance Wilson, said he was about to invite the next child onto his lap when the shots rang out upstairs. He said he instead dove for the floor and kept his head down. "I heard two shots and got out of the chair. I thought a red suit was a pretty good target," said the 68-year-old Wilson, The Associated Press reported. Macy's employee Mariah Saldana said the gunman was wearing a white mask. He did not appear to be targeting anyone in particular, Sheriff Roberts told NBC's Savannah Guthrie. "It really looked as though it was a random shooting, really anybody that was in his line of sight, basically," Roberts said. The gunman fired up to 60 shots, according to The Oregonian, and the sheriff said the weapon likely jammed at some point, perhaps sparing more shoppers. The injured teen, Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was in serious condition at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital on Wednesday after undergoing surgery. Roberts said their thoughts and prayers went out to the victims and their families. "For all of us, the mall is supposed to be a place we can all take our families, feel comfortable, this is the holidays … these things are never supposed to happen. We have a young lady at the hospital fighting for her life right now," he said. More content from NBCNews.com:
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12/12/2012
Oregon mall gunman ID'd; motive unclear
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