Clackamas, Oregon, mall gunman kills 2, then himself A masked gunman stormed into a crowded Portland, Ore.-area mall Tuesday, shouting, "I am the shooter!" and opened fire, killing two people and seriously injuring a third before killing himself, authorities and a witness said. Christmas music was playing in the Clackamas Town Center when gunfire erupted, one witness told local media. Another said the mall Santa had to drop to the floor to take cover. More than 10,000 shoppers were in the 185-store mall at the time, officials said. Some witnesses said the gunman used a rifle, but authorities did not confirm what kind of firearm was used or whether the assailant had more than one. Responding officers fired no shots, authorities said. At a Tuesday night news conference, Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts described the injured victim as "a young lady at the hospital fighting for her life right now." "The mall's supposed to be a place where we can all take our families.... These things aren't supposed to happen," Roberts said. Austin Patty, 20, a Macy's employee at the mall, said the gunman wore a white mask and body armor as he ran through the store and into the mall's central court carrying a rifle. "He was trying get to the mall to do a mall massacre," Patty said. "It didn't seem like he wanted anything to do with" the department store. Before the gunman finished saying, "I am the shooter," Patty said, "the shots took over." Officials believe the gunman acted alone. A sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday night that authorities were still trying to confirm his identity. No victims' names were released. Alina Pavlenko, 16, was working at Fabulicious Cupcakes on the mall's second floor when she heard shots. At first, she said, she thought it might be firecrackers. Then she saw a man in a mask, walking slowly and firing a rifle at random. "And he looked my way and he shot toward me, and then I realized it wasn't a joke," she said, her voice still shaky hours later. She ducked behind a chair, the teenager said, then bolted out of the mall. "I kept running out and I kept hearing gunshots over and again," she said. As she fled, she saw a woman lying on the ground. More than three hours after the 3:30 shooting, authorities were still clearing the mall, which encompasses more than a million square feet and includes Nordstrom, JCPenney, Sears and 20 theaters. Customers and employees who couldn't get out took shelter throughout the mall, which police were evacuating room by room. Nicole Mason, 18, of Vancouver, Wash., said she was in the Things Remembered store next to Macy's on the lower level of the two-story mall when she heard a loud shot outside the store. "We heard a really loud bang, and at first it sounded like something had dropped or something had shattered," Mason said. About 15 seconds after that first shot, it was bang, bang, bang. At least 20 shots were fired. Seth Benson, 20, of Camas, Wash., was with her. When Mason dropped to the floor, he jumped on top of her. "All I'm thinking is, 'Comfort her,' so I laid on top of her and told her it was all going to be OK," Benson said.