2nd LD: Mall shooting in NW U.S. kills 4

A shooting at a mall north of Seattle in the U.S. State of Washington killed four people on Friday night.

Washington State Patrol in the U.S. Pacific Northwest state said a lone gunman is on the loose after the incident, which took place at Cascade Mall in Burlington.

Sergeant Mark Francis, a public information officer with the state patrol, tweeted a series of messages including a description of the shooter as a "Hispanic male wearing grey."

Police were alerted about the incident at 6:58 p.m. local time.

Shortly after 8:00 p.m., in one of the Twitter postings, Francis said that four people were confirmed dead in the mall, while the shooter, possibly acting alone, left the scene before police arrived. He also said the police were clearing the mall.

An unknown number of people were wounded at the mall, about 105 km north of Seattle, the biggest city in the state.

A blurry image of the suspect likely from a security camera was shown on TV stations. Endi