New details emerge about mall shooter's movements before attack
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PORTLAND, Ore. - Court documents reveal new information about a young man who opened fire at the Clackamas Town Center mall last week.
The shooting happened Tuesday, Dec. 11. Investigators say 22-year-old Jacob Roberts, carrying an AR-15 rifle and wearing a hockey mask, made his way through the Clackamas Town Center shooting at customers and employees before finally turning the gun on himself.
Two people - Steve Forsyth and Cindy Yuille - were shot dead before Roberts killed himself. A 15-year-old girl, Kristina Shevchenko, was badly injured and is now recovering at the hospital.
Roberts would have likely shot more people but his rifle jammed mid-way through his shooting spree, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. He was, however, able to get it firing again.
The Oregon state medical examiner's office determined Forsyth died from a single gunshot wound to the head, Yuille died of a single gunshot wound to the back and Roberts shot himself in the head. Toxicology results for Roberts are still pending.
In court documents obtained by KATU on Monday, investigators with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office state that they got a phone tip from Roberts' roommate, Chris Dahrens, the day of the shooting saying he thought the young man living with him might be the shooter at the Clackamas Town Center. This was before police confirmed that Roberts was, indeed, the gunman.
Dahrens told police that Roberts had been acting weird, talking about moving to Hawaii and wanted to sell his possessions on Craigslist. He said Roberts had already sold some items online.
"He didn't get angry. He was level," said Dahrens' girlfriend and Roberts' roomate Jaime Eheler. "He wasn't the type to have really good days and really bad days."
Dahrens also told police that at one time he had found a box of AR-15 ammunition in the house that belonged to Roberts. He said Roberts left the house the day of the shooting wearing black clothing and drove away in his green Volkswagen Jetta, never to be seen again.
The court documents also outline how investigators believe Roberts got his hands on the AR-15 rifle, the one that was used at the mall.
Roberts reportedly spent the night hanging out with some people at another home in the area the day before the shooting. A man who lives at that home told police that Roberts said he needed a gun and needed to get out of town. The man said when he woke up the next day around 4 p.m., he noticed that his AR-15 rifle, which was legally purchased, was gone.
KATU's Thom Jensen and Dan Tilkin contributed to this story.
the dc sniper, holmes, jacobs , lanza, spengler the fireman shooter -all used the bushmaster made by remington..
not an ak, not a colt, Â the bushmaster- standard lone gunman issue?
so people steal guns then go kill a bunch of people then themselves. Cut out the middle man and shoot yourself first.
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Look at Harry Jerkov..all crazy eyed..shakin' his johnson at his webcam..pretty much 24/7
They don't know how he got his hands on that weapon.. Really ?  Seriously Katu, don't play us like all that !
Why is the dumb perp's face all over this site?  Have we not learned from the debunked Morgan Freeman speech at the UN why we shouldn't build false monuments to criminals?  Come-on KATU, how about every article about this incident  you make victim's portraits most prominent?
 @Benjamin Schniffle I tend to agree. The worst thing the media can do is: show the picture, tell the bio, rank compared to other shooters, and yet they do it every time. They need to take away the sick incentive, but I don't think they really care more than getting a good "scoop"
This guy shot himself because he looked in the mirror and saw Herve Villachaize
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KGW is part of the mainstream media, so Nick Meli is being covered by the mainstream media.
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Also, there no evidence other than his own claim that the shooter saw him. I give the guy credit for not firing his weapon and instead finding somewhere safe to go. But the logic that he deterred the shooter holds no water. Are you arguing that Jacob Roberts was so concerned about getting shot that he shot himself? It makes no sense.
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The gun jammed. That's why fewer people died. Meli, who I think is being sincere, didn't pull his weapon until the gun jammed. When Roberts got the gun to fire, he shot off more rounds, but, thankfully, not into other people.
 @Max Quinn  Well, at least one organization mentioned it, good for them. The national media has been horrible. Mentioning the police, the nurse, ect, and every other hero except the guy that actually stopped it. The bottom line is that immeadiatly after he was confronted with the pistol, he ran away and fired just one more round, the one into his head. Meli is a hero.Â
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He was not scared to die, but he was scared of being wounded and/or arrested. That's why active shooters almost always kill themselves when an armed person, the police, or a citizen, closes in. He obviously was able to unjam his weapon before he shot himself, so why didn't he just keep shooting people? The police weren't even close, obviously because Meli had a weapon, and he didn't want to risk being wounded and arrested.
 @DB Cooper Sorry, but there is no evidence that Meli stopped the shooting. The gun jammed when Roberts tried to reload it.
 @DB Cooper  @Max Quinn ?
 @Max Quinn So did he kill himself by clubbing himself over the head with it then?
@DB Cooper The other organizatinos havne't picked it up becuase the myth being built up around Nick is based on such a biased agenda that it is laughable. The gunman decided not to shoot anyone else. He confronted another person in the storage corridor, pointed the gun at him and didn't shoot. No risk, weapon was not jammed, he just didn't pull the trigger.
@Max Quinn I can understand your opinion on the shooters logic, however we should not try to expect a logical response or reaction out of someone who did what he did. The fact that he took vengence on total innocents and took his own life demonstrates his lack of logical thinking.
As a follow-up to my previous post where I put a lot of the blame on the man who left his gun unlocked in his house waiting to be stolen, is it unreasonable to have people who want to purchase a gun pass a test to see if they are minimally intelligent and mature enought to do so? Is that asking too much? I don't think so. You have to pass a competency test to get a drivers license. What not to purchase a gun?
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 @HarryJuku  @peckishpete  No, it is only you and other emotion based thinkers that defy logic. To put your mind at ease, statistically, the police are more likely to shoot you than a typical gun owner.
@HarryJuku @peckishpete I believe it to be a personal responsibility of firearms owners to secure and lock weapons. To do less is to open yourself to personal liability and personal grief. Perhaps that is where we should go with legislation and formally make that a requirement to owning a weapon. If we want to maintain second amendment rights, owners need to demonstrate complete responsibility or the anti's will have thier way.
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@HarryJuku @peckishpete Actually....I think he should run for office. He can be the next Senator McCarthy.
 @HarryJuku  @peckishpete  When does your show premiere on MSNBC?
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 @HarryJuku Was he freaking out and crying again, and interrupting the people he set up to use as punching bags again?
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Are you going to lie about what they said like you did two days ago?
 @HarryJuku We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore.
This coverage is absolutely terrible. It is not an oversight that they failed to mention the most important aspect of the story. They mention every conceivable detail about this incident,  from the âheroicâ police who showed up after the shooting, to the woman who warned mall patrons, and yet, they somehow forgot to mention that the reason that the shooting stopped is that he was confronted by a heroic citizen who had a gun and a permit, at which point, he went into a panic and shot himself.  The biggest hero is Nick Meli, and yet his name appears nowhere in numerous mainstream media articles about this. So, why? Because their agenda is not to keep us safe, the media doesnât want us to realize that an armed citizen stopped this. They want us to think that the only way to be safe is to disarm the people, and give the police more money and power.   This is not incompetence, it is absolutely disgusting advocacy journalism, a lie by omission, and this station should be totally ashamed of themselves.
@DB Cooper
At first, I did not understand what some of the commenters here were talking about until I read yours. Thank you for mentioning this "The biggest hero is Nick Meli, and yet his name appears nowhere in numerous mainstream media articles about this. So, why?".
I did a search on Google and found a full interview with Nick Meli
http://5440fight.com/2012/12/17/the-actions-of-nick-meli-helped-end-the-oregon-mall-shooting/
 @ORI0ve3 Oh, thank you. I had not seen the full piece yet.
@DB Cooper "Oh, thank you. I had not seen the full piece yet"
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Really? I get "Your logic is fallacious" while you haven't even seen the full piece yet?
 @DB Cooper There is no indication that the gunman "went into a panic" and, by "confronted" you mean Nick pointed a gun at the guy and then Nick went and hid.
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Please stop trampling on the 1st Amendment.
 @JTesla No, after being confronted he retreated, and then, even though he had more ammunition, and the police were not there yet, fired only one more shot, the one that killed him.  Yes, Meli was taking cover behind a pilar, just like a police officer(or any reasonable person) would do. Who's trampling the first amendment? Is it your belief that questioning the media or government is a violation of the first amendment?
 @DB Cooper Your account of the story doesn't even match Nick's. I suggest you do more research on the topic. He continued past the store that Nick was in to the Exit, he didn't retreat. He encountered more people after Nick, he even pointing the gun at one in the corridor before he took his own life, but after Nick lost track of him.
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Speech? You might want to read the 1st Amendment again, it covers more than speech.
 @JTesla  Your logic is fallacious. If he did not see the guy that was drawing down on him, why would you imagine that as soon as he had a gun pointed at him he ran away, charged his rifle, and then shot himself without shooting anyone else? Â
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I have no idea what you are talking about. No one, least of all, myself is advocating the limiting of speech. Why would someone who is a diehard supporter of the entire bill of rights limit speech?
 @DB Cooper The shooter was 45 to 60 feet away, wearing a hockey mask that obscured his face, they didn't speak, that is hardly "confronted" and he didn't retreat.
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Is it your belief that questioning which firearms can be owned or carried by the public is trampling the 2nd amendment? Because I certainly take any call, other than individual action, to limit the press as to be trampling the 1st Amendment. I would take your last line to be a call for more than just individual action. Â
@DB Cooper has this been confirmed by any law enforcement agency? I want to believe this story is true but would like to see something official.
Amazing that the mainstream media is overlooking the issue of the confrontation between Roberts and the licensed conceal carry citizen that very likely caused the end of the shooting spree.
 @Ricka But, but, but that would not make sensational journalism and these Tabloid Journalists are only out for doom & gloom because folks love it and really are 'dumbing down' and need to be entertained...
 @Ricka With the liberals foaming a the mouth with a huge story like this and the one in CT to try and force gun control bans / laws down our throats and penalize the MILLIONS and MILLIONS of legal responsible gun owners in this nation. This doesn't surprise me at all. The media and now even politicians are being bias about it all. It really isn't that hard to understand. People kill people. The method doesn't matter. This guy stole an AR-15 from a guy.. and the guy in CT stole it from his Mother. Crazy people do crazy things. Sad reality of life. Obama and the libtards thinking "we can make a law or change something to prevent this" is the epidemy of la la land. We have laws against prostitution, drugs, etc, etc. How's that working for us? How did prohibition work for us? Even if you made every gun ILLEGAL..  it still wouldn't solve it.. as the criminals will still have them anyways! Wake UP people!
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 @boned What you some libuhral NPR listening and PBS watching coward?  Don't watch commercial TV?  That's un-American.  If you don't want to support American made product maybe you should just self deport.
 @HarryJuku Don't watch commercial TV for the reason you espoused. Find a person well versed in all areas of gun-control and your buddy Piers will sink even farther in the polls...
I'd like KATU to post the story about a man who was carrying a concealed weapon, and had pulled it out to take down this guy. The reason why he didn't shoot was because an innocent person was running behind the killer, and a stray bullet would have caused more problems.Â
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There is another hero to tell about.Â
 @washcomom Actually, I really don't think they read these posts since they're so busy quoting their facebook ones but...
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I'd actually much rather know from the police (if they are willing to share that information) how many other people in the mall also had concealed weapons on them and whether or not they also had the same opportunity but similar limiting factors that warranted them to not shoot.
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 @HarryJuku  @washcomom "AS IF someone with an AR15 is going to run away from a friggin' pistol. (omg)"Â
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So you're saying if someone pointed an AR15 at you, you would run like hell but if it was just a pistol it's no big deal? Your comment truly highlights your ignorance.....Â
 @HarryJuku I wasn't arguing if this guy saved the day or not. just the ignorance of your comment. I imagine no matter what kind of firearm that is pointed at you you do one of two things, freeze and crap your pants, or run like a girl.
@HarryJuku @washcomom This man did exactly what he was trained to do. You never ever take a shot unless you are sure of your backdrop. That's exactly what he did. Your slipping Harry....now you're starting to be the Monday morning quarterback, instead of the gun hating liberal.....
 @HarryJuku I forgot to add that your statement is based on you being a Left Winger that believes everything you have been spoon-fed by the mediums and the shooter's AR-15 jammed when the citizen was ready to shoot, but decided not to because of civilians in the background. It is folks like you that leave out the facts when espousing that irks me, Sir.
 @HarryJuku And you speak from personal experience, right??  A pistol will kill you just as dead from personal experience...
 @washcomom He has been interviewed on local news and made the national news for a brief period - it does not make for more Tabloid Journalism from the bottom feeders that need to make press and will neatly disappear...
So what are all of you gun freaks going to blame when the guns are banned and it doesn't stop? Â And how are you going to like it when the guns are banned and you're staring down the barrel of a criminal's gun? Â Hope you like it cause that's where its headed. Â At least some administrators and law makers have common sense (with Michigan passing a law allowing teachers to carry if they get extra training and similar stuff in Florida). Â I have to step away from these arguments though. Â The scared of guns crowd still can't understand that this is an extremely rare thing in a country of 311 MILLION people. Â Put "feel good" legislation in place and it will still be like Chicago where there are 10-20 shootings a day and they aren't being done by legal folk.
 @ab You are so right, ab.  If we are going to start banning guns because that particular type of gun was used to commit murder, we would end up banning all guns - thereby nullifying the Second Amendment.
 @ab How true!! It is way too late and the statistics about homicide by gun's has been so lied about folks like Bloomberg and the rest that it irks me to no end. The amount of folks killed in car crashes tops the list of deaths in America and gun deaths are ranked last...
@ab I put the blame on the man who left his rifle laying around the house unlocked and ready to be stolen.Â