The Tacoma Mall shooting was a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...

and attempted mass murder that occurred on November 20, 2005, at the

Tacoma Mall The Tacoma Mall is the largest shopping center in Tacoma, Washington, and is owned and operated by the Simon Property Group. Anchor tenants include Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney (originally two levels, but added a third level in 1986), Macy's ...

in Tacoma,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The gunman, Dominick Maldonado, entered the mall with a semi-automatic Norinco MAK-90 rifle and a pistol, injuring six before he instigated four armed kidnappings.

Details

Dominic Maldonado entered the Tacoma shopping mall around 12:15pm, November 20, 2005, and quickly opened fire with a MAK-90 semi-automatic rifle. During the course of the shooting, Brendan (Dan) McKown, a mall employee, intervened. McKown drew his

9 mm 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

CZ pistol but then had second thoughts of shooting "a kid". McKown (with his handgun still holstered) verbally commanded Maldonado to put down his gun. Maldonado's response was to fire on McKown, striking him once in the leg and four times in the torso, damaging McKown's spine and leaving him paralyzed. In addition to McKown, five other people were shot but not seriously injured, and a seventh person received a non-gunshot injury. At least one other person in the mall at the time also pulled a gun on Maldonado, but did not fire for fear of hitting innocent bystanders. No one was killed during the shooting. Maldonado then took four people hostage in a

Sam Goody Sam Goody was a music and entertainment retailer in the United States and United Kingdom, operated by The Musicland Group, Inc. It was purchased by Best Buy in 2000, sold to Sun Capital Partners in 2003, and filed for bankruptcy in 2006, clo ...

store, including two employees, a customer, and a 12-year-old boy whom he only briefly held captive before releasing. The hostage situation lasted until 4 p.m. when Maldonado surrendered to a Tacoma police SWAT team without further incident. Hostages taken during the incident chronicled their story on

Biography Channel FYI (stylized as fyi,) is an American basic cable channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle pr ...

's '' I Survived...''.

Shooter

The perpetrator in the shootings was 20-year-old Dominick Sergio Maldonado (born September 22, 1985), who had an extensive juvenile criminal record including burglary,

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for som ...

, and possession of burglary tools. He had also been given a court order not to possess any weapons. At the time of the shooting, Maldonado had recently separated from his girlfriend, and had been using methamphetamine without sleep for almost a week.

Trial and imprisonment

Maldonado was charged with eight counts of first-degree assault, four counts of first-degree kidnapping, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has since been through five different lawyers and three defense teams. Maldonado was convicted on October 2, 2007, and sentenced to 163 years in prison on November 2. He unsuccessfully attempted to escape from the

Clallam Bay Corrections Center Clallam Bay Corrections Center is situated on the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County, two miles (3.2 km) south of the community of Clallam Bay, Washington. CBCC opened as a medium-custody 450-bed facility in 1985 and converted to a Close Custo ...

on June 29, 2011. During the escape attempt, Maldonado took a corrections officer hostage using a pair of scissors. Kevin Newland, a second inmate, was shot and killed by a guard after driving a forklift through a set of doors and crashing it into a perimeter fence. Citing "safety/security concerns", the

Washington State Department of Corrections The Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC) is a department of the government of the state of Washington (state), Washington. WADOC is responsible for administering adult corrections programs operated by the State of Washington. This in ...

transferred Maldonado to

ADX Florence The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pri ...

in Colorado on May 11, 2016.

References

{{coord, 47, 12, 57, N, 122, 28, 07, W, format=dms, display=title 2005 in Washington (state) 2005 mass shootings in the United States Mass shootings in the United States Non-fatal shootings Attacks in the United States in 2005 Crimes in Washington (state) Hostage taking in the United States Attacks on shopping malls Mass shootings in Washington (state) Attacks on buildings and structures in the United States November 2005 crimes November 2005 events in the United States

Details

Shooter

Trial and imprisonment

See also

References