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Gunman on the run after five killed in Washington state shooting

A gunman is at large after five people were killed in a shooting at a shopping centre in Washington state.

Police have released an image of the gunman, who they described as a "dark-complexioned" man wearing black and armed with a "hunting-type" rifle.

They say the motive for the shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, 65 miles north of Seattle, is unclear.

"We are still actively looking for the shooter," Washington State Patrol spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis said at a news conference.

"Stay indoors, stay secure."

Four women were killed and one man who suffered life-threatening injuries in the shooting on Friday evening died later in hospital.

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All of the victims, which ranged from one aged in their teens to one described as a "senior", were found in the makeup section of a Macy's department store.

Lieutenant Chris Cammock of Mount Vernon police department said the gunman was seen on CCTV entering the mall without a weapon.

Ten minutes later he was seen again, entering Macy's, carrying the rifle.

Tari Caswell told the Skagit Valley Herald she was in a dressing room when she heard "what sounded like four balloons popping".

She told the newspaper: "Then I heard seven or eight more, and I just stayed quiet in the dressing room because it just didn't feel right. And it got very quiet.

"And then I heard a lady yelling for help, and a man came and got me and another lady, and we ran out of the store."

A worker at a restaurant close to the shopping centre said staff "immediately locked the doors" when they realised what was happening.

Stephanie Bose, an assistant general manager at Johnny Carino's Italian restaurant, said a boyfriend of one of her employees came into the restaurant after trying to go to the shopping centre.

She said he saw people screaming and police blocking the door with assault rifles.

"He was trying to go to the mall and people were screaming," she said. "It was frantic."

The FBI said it is helping local authorities but there was "no evidence" it was an act of terrorism.

State governor Jay Inslee said he and his wife Trudi sent "condolences and prayers".

Skagit County coroner Hayley Thompson said it was not possible to identify the victims until autopsies had take place.

Steve Sexton, mayor of the City of Burlington, told a press conference: "There are people waking up this morning and their world has changed forever.

"The city of Burlington has probably changed forever, but I don't think our way life needs to change.

"This was a senseless act. It was the world knocking on our doorstep and it came into our little community. We quickly come together in times of tragedy and we need to do that now."

The shooting comes less than a week after a man stabbed nine people at a shopping centre in central Minnesota before being shot dead.