On a Friday evening, the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, became the scene of a tragedy that cut short the life of Wilton Charles "Chuck" Eagan. The 60-year-old White male was shopping with his wife at the Macy's department store on September 23, 2016, when a gunman opened fire. The couple had finished their shopping and were heading to dinner when they returned to the cosmetics department for a forgotten item.
It was then that the sound of gunfire shattered the ordinary evening.
Reacting quickly, Eagan grabbed his wife's hand, and they began to run. In the chaos, his wife tripped and fell, finding cover under a table. In a final act of love and protection, Eagan was shot as he tried to help her. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but his injuries were too severe, and he died the following morning. Eagan, a longtime Boeing employee, was remembered by his family as a gentle and kind-hearted man who died a hero.
The man responsible for this senseless act of violence was 20-year-old Arcan Cetin. Armed with a rifle he had stolen from his stepfather, Cetin entered the Macy's store and began shooting, killing four people at the scene and injuring Eagan, who would later die. The other victims were Sarai Lara, 16; Shayla Martin, 52; Belinda Galde, 64; and Galde's 95-year-old mother, Beatrice Dotson.
A manhunt for the shooter ensued, and Cetin was arrested nearly 24 hours later in his hometown of Oak Harbor. He was charged with five counts of first-degree murder. Investigators found that Cetin had propped open a door to a movie theater in the mall earlier, possibly indicating a different or larger-scale attack was initially planned. On April 16, 2017, before he could stand trial, Arcan Cetin was found dead in his jail cell, having taken his own life.
