VANCOUVER, Wash. — Investigators are no closer to finding out why a man shot and killed a person at a Vancouver, Wash. mall last Thursday night.
Police said the suspect, 32-year-old Travis Ward, surrendered after SWAT officers surrounded his home Saturday night. but will not admit to the shooting.
He appeared in court on Monday facing one count of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault.
Probable cause documents said Ward followed 27-year-old James Perez in the mall for a short time before shooting him in the back of the head, KOIN 6 News reported. Perez died from his injuries.
Investigators say Ward was wearing a joker mask during the shooting.
Two other men were hit when more shots were fired during a children’s trick-or-treating event.
The victims were there together in the food court celebrating Halloween with family.
Daniel Martin, who was there with his two young daughters, was shot in the foot.
Brandon Leyrer was shot in the abdomen.
“I had seen the gunman. He was wearing like a Halloween costume with a mask and everything,” Martin said, “and I just saw him emptying the rest of his handgun into the body on the floor. And so I know that, like, less than 10 feet away from me is someone who is unloading a gun into a body, and I’m holding my daughters and I’m bleeding from my foot and they’re freaking out,” Martin told KOIN 6 News.
Both men were taken to the hospital and were discharged a few hours later.
Martin told KOIN he doesn’t understand how something like that could happen.
“My girls are still crying, and I’m just trying to get them to focus on me and not, I’m just kind of desperately hoping that they didn’t see the body on the floor,” he said.