a couple of shots into the ceiling. a shot into an escalator, one into a facade area for one of the retail stores. he had more than opportunity. there were thousands of people in this mall at 9:20 tonight and many of them were within five feet from him. he clearly had the ability to shoot an individual but he did not. a disturbed man that took his own life. prosecutor john mulanelli, thank you very much. the details we are beginning to learn. a long night for law enforcement officers here. 400 people or so barricaded into their stores. police still at this time going through the shopping mall and making sure they have accounted for everyone. the mall will remain closed today. nic, are they certain nobody else was involved? because earlier reports when you were listening to the eyewitnesses there, they were saying they heard a lot of shots and thought maybe there were some additional people and feel confident now this was a lone
that he was probably laying dead there for some hours. he had entered the shopping mall, gone through the mall and arrived at a place where he took his own life. i m joined by the prosecutor here, john mullanely. can you talk us through exactly what happened tonight? some time after 9:00 p.m., mr. shoop came in dressed all in black and wearing a black motorcycle helmet with his rifle and shortly after entering, let go about a minimum of six rounds or maybe more. we have to look at it yet. in an area he could have easily hit individuals but chose not to. based upon what our investigation disclosed over the hours that followed, we believe that he went in there with the intent to either be shot by police, which we call suicide or to take his own life, which he ultimately did. what have you learned about this young man? a troubled person. someone that, you know, has a
nic robertson is live with us with the latest. what do you have, nic? reporter: about two hours ago, police say they discovered the body of richard shoop, a 20-year-old young man. they say his body was over at the back of the shopping mall in a building area behind the building area, it was some distance they say where he had entered the mall about six hours earlier when he began shooting. they say he fired at least six shots into an escalator, an elevator, into a couple of stories stores but they did say he wasn t shooting at people. this is somebody they described as trouble and who had a history of drug use. he does have a history of drug use. but we do believe that the motive for what he did tonight was suicide. whether self-inflicted or, god forbid, suicide. no one ever wants to say that. it looked like that was his motive and this time based upon what we know, it did not appear that he entered the mall to
i m miguel marquez in for john berman who hat day off. i m zoraida sambolin. tuesday, november 5th. 5:00 a.m. in the first. first, we start with gunfire. witnesses say a man opened in black opened fire at 9:30 last night inside the westfield garden state plaza mall in paramus. after a massive search we are finding out the shooter s body has just been found. late-breakinging details and get straight to nic robertson who is live in paramus. reporter: police found the body of the man who went into the mall shooting, richard shoop s body was found at 3:20 a.m. this morning in the back of the shopping mall behind a building area under construction some distance where he entered the mall six hours earlier. police say he took his own life,
know that she is doing just fine. wow. that suspect 19-year-old corey moss is being held on 150,000 dollars bail. a crazy, crazy story. a security scare at a connecticut university on monday night. three people, including at least one student taken into custody following a lockdown that police say could have been caused by a student halloween costume. police received calls that a person carrying a sword and possibly a gun inside a dorm on monday. central connecticut state university was a lockdown for several hours. no one injured. india is hoping to beat china to the punch launching unmanned mars orbiter. critics of the 74 million dollar project say the money would have been better spent on public health or solar energy. coming up. highlights everyone is