Gunman kills five in Washington mall, disappears

US: Five people including four women and one men has been killed after a gunman who opened fire in Burlington crowded mall north of Seattle late Friday. Police say they are searching for the gunman who remains on the loose.

According to police the Hispanic man wearing black and armed with a rifle was last seen walking toward Interstate 5.

Speaking at a news conference, Washington State Patrol spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis said;

"We are still actively looking for the shooter.''

"Stay indoors, stay secure."

Authorities say the motive behind the shooting is unknown. The FBI is helping local authorities as police officers searched for the shooter.

In a Tweet by the FBI's Seattle office, it said that it "has no information to suggest additional attacks were planned'' in Washington state.

Francis said the victims were shot in the makeup department of the Macy's store at the large Cascade Mall in Burlington, about 97km north of Seattle.

A witness, Tari Caswell told the Skagit Valley Herald that she was in the Macy's women's dressing room when she heard "what sounded like four balloons popping".

"Then I heard seven or eight more, and I just stayed quiet in the dressing room because it just didn't feel right. And it got very quiet. And then I heard a lady yelling for help, and a man came and got me and another lady, and we ran out of the store,'' Caswell said.

An assistant general manager at Johnny Carino's Italian restaurant near the Macy's store at the mall, Stephanie Bose said she immediately locked the doors to the restaurant after hearing of the shooting from an employee's boyfriend.

"He was trying to go to the mall and people were screaming,'' she told The Associated Press. "It was frantic.''