Mall Shooting Could Energize WA Anti-Gunners
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Some anti-gun lawmakers in Washington state have been trying for the past few years to push for a state-level ban on so-called assault weapons, and the highly-publicized shooting Nov. 20 at the Tacoma Mall might just give them the impetus they need to get it through a Democrat-controlled legislature, local activists fear.
Nobody was killed, but six people were wounded by accused gunman Dominick Sergio Maldonado, 20, who was taken into custody a few hours after he opened fire in the mall. A seventh person was treated for non-firearm related injuries.
The most seriously wounded of the victims, Brendan “Dan” McKown, is being hailed by many as a hero, and is starting a slow trek toward recovery, though he may be partially or completely paralyzed from his wounds.
On the day after the shooting, Maldonado was charged with eight counts of first-degree assault, four counts of kidnapping and two counts of illegal firearms possession and his bail was set at $2 million. He is being held at the Pierce County jail. He pleaded not guilty.
Maldonado has an extensive juvenile criminal background, which would have made it illegal for him to obtain any of the guns he carried into the mall. Maldonado evidently planned the attack, sending a cell phone text message to his ex-girlfriend and to another friend that “the world will feel my anger.”
What Joe Waldron, president of the Washington Arms Collectors and head of the Gun Owners’ Action League in the Evergreen State is concerned more about is feeling the political wrath of gun banners come January in the Capitol building in Olympia. Waldron, who is also executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, acknowledged to Gun Week that the Tacoma Mall shooting is going to be the catalyst for a new round of legislation. He predicted that anti-gunners will capitalize on the incident to push their political agenda.
“They tried last year to pass an ‘assault weapons’ ban, and this year, because of the mall shooting, they will definitely be back,” Waldron predicted.
Maldonado was scheduled to be in court Dec. 8 for a pre-trial conference, at which time a trial date was to be set. A preliminary date of Jan. 11 was scheduled, but Assistant Prosecutor Phil Sorensen told Gun Week that this would likely change.
Tacoma authorities erroneously described one of the two firearms Maldonado allegedly used in the shooting as a “semi-automatic machine pistol” in charging documents. Gun Week obtained a copy of the charges against the suspect.
McKown, 38, of Tacoma, was the last person shot by the gunman. Licensed to carry, McKown is an assistant manager at the Excalibur Cutlery and Gifts store in the mall. He confronted the gunman and briefly drew his own pistol, but told reporters that he returned the gun to his belt and instead verbally challenged the suspect. He said he told the gunman that he ought to put the rifle down. That’s when the suspect swung the gun around and shot him several times. The wounds apparently have left him partially paralyzed, though McKown has told reporters he expects to walk again. He has some feeling in one leg.
Many, including McKown’s parents, are convinced that his intervention stopped Maldonado from shooting several other people.
McKown was not the only armed citizen in the mall, which reportedly bans firearms, but the other man also held fire, concerned that he might hit other shoppers who were trying to dodge the gunman’s bullets.
Cara Flynn, manager of the Excalibur store where McKown works, told Gun Week that she was aware McKown has a concealed pistol license. However, he has never flashed it, or even made a point of telling people about it.
“I don’t know if he carried it all the time,” she said.
Charles Warren, owner of the Excalibur chain, spoke to Gun Week from his corporate headquarters in Oregon. So far as he is concerned, McKown is a hero who “still has a job” when he gets out of the hospital.
“A lot of people feel that by confronting this individual he stopped this individual from going down the mall and shooting other people,” Warren said. “(Dan) is a very valued employee . . . an outgoing, personable, kind individual. I can just see Dan; he would be the kind of individual that would stand up for people.”
Warren said he “never gave it a thought” about prohibiting legally armed citizens from coming into his stores, which sell all kinds of cutlery, from kitchen knives to tactical knives, hunting knives and a variety of swords. He said McKown “never showed the gun to anyone, he was just very quiet about it.”
Both Warren and Flynn have been speaking to McKown regularly since he came out of a medically-induced coma two days after the shooting.
There was initially some confusion over the specific type of firearms Maldonado allegedly carried. One was an AK/SKS clone, possibly a MAK-90. However, the type of pistol appears to be in dispute. One source close to the case told Gun Week that the pistol was “perhaps” an AA Arms AP9, which closely resembles the TEC-9.
During the standoff, Gun Week learned, the suspect ordered his hostages to reload his empty magazines.
The Tacoma Mall was one of the first such facilities anywhere in the country, if not the first. Opened back in the mid-1960s, in recent years it has also attracted gang activity. However, this was the first incident in which shots had been fired inside the mall.
Maldonado entered the facility at around noon. According to various news agencies, he had one gun hidden under a coat. Dressed in a white shirt, tie and dark slacks, and with neatly trimmed hair, he appeared as though he might have just come from church.
He reportedly was approached by a salesperson at a cell phone display, at which point he dropped the coat and opened fire. It was not clear how many shots were fired, but one witness told reporters that the gunman changed magazines at least once. By the time the shooting ended, six people were wounded, including McKown, who had walked from the far end of the mall to make a bank deposit between the Penney’s store and a nearby Sears store.
A second man claiming to have been armed and in the mall at the time of the shooting was interviewed the following day by Seattle’s KVI radio. That man said he did not fire a shot, but covered retreating shoppers into a J.C. Penney’s store near where the shooting occurred.
According to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Times and The Tacoma News Tribune, Maldonado has a criminal record dating back to 1998, including charges of burglary, theft, possession of stolen property, trafficking in stolen property, and problems with drugs. His most recent run-in with the law was in 2003, for burglary. He was apparently jailed for 31 days in 2003 and had to pay $730 restitution for what newspapers said was an “unspecified incident in 1999.”
Significantly, a judge prohibited him in 1998 from possessing firearms or other weapons.
Maldonado apparently sent his cell phone text messages to his friend, identified as Bret Strickler, and ex-girlfriend moments before he entered the mall and opened fire. The ex-girlfriend, identified as Tiffany Robison of Tacoma, called Maldonado almost immediately, The Times reported, and was told that he was busy, and had gone into a record store.
However, The News Tribune reported that Maldonado called Robison and told her about the shooting, claiming, “I’m crazy. I’m crazy.” She also told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the text message Maldonado sent her said “Today is the day that the world will know my anger.”
Maldonado took three hostages, two men and a woman, at a Sam Goody music shop. Two of the hostages were employees and the third was a customer. There had also been a child in the shop for a brief period, but the gunman apparently turned him loose.
Maldonado faces a minimum of 60 years in prison for just the firearms enhancements, said Sorensen. If convicted on all the other charges, he could be sentenced to a minimum of 100 years.
The mall was evacuated and Tacoma Police finally talked Maldonado into giving up. He was taken into custody at about 4 p.m.
McKown has no health insurance. A Dan McKown Medical Fund to help pay his medical expenses has been set up at Bank of America branches. Key Bank branches are also accepting donations for the Dan McKown fund.
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