NJ mall shooter found dead after lockdown

Authorities said early Tuesday morning that the suspect in a shooting at a northern New Jersey mall was found dead of a self-inflicted wound.

The man shot at least six rounds from a modified rifle seemingly at random and without hitting anyone, before turning the gun on himself in a back area of the mall, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli told a news conference early on Tuesday.

Authorities named the dead man as 20-year-old Richard Shoop and said he had a history of drug abuse. Officials found his body in the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus at around 3:20 a.m. local time.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers converged on the northern New Jersey mall Monday night after witnesses said multiple shots were fired there.

Det. Rachel Morgan of the Paramus Police Department would not comment on whether shots had been fired inside the mall. She said several hundred officers were at the scene.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Jessica Stigliano, 21, of Richfield, New Jersey, told The Associated Press that she was sitting in the mall's food court when she saw people running and yelling "shots were fired."

Stigliano said she also began running. She said at the time she was thinking, "Not many people run for their life, but that's what I'm doing right now."

She did not see a shooter. "It was scary to think that you could be that close to something like that," Stigliano said.

A manager at the Chili's restaurant at Garden State Plaza told The Associated Press they were on lockdown and could not leave. She said a manager at the Nordstrom department store ran over to use the phone saying there had been a shooting. She did not say if the Nordstrom manager witnessed it.

Althea Brown, 26, of Paterson, told NorthJersey.com she was in a clothing store when she saw a man walk by and then heard three shots followed by two more. She said he appeared to be wearing body armor and was wearing a helmet with the visor pulled up.

Several frightened customers sent tweets saying they were escorted from the mall by armed state troopers.  One woman wrote that she ran from the mall "screaming."

The mall is located in Bergen County, about 22 miles southwest of Manhattan.

The Associated Press