The crazed gunman who brought terror to a New Jersey mall on Monday night by casually strolling through the building firing bullets into the air, has shot himself dead, authorities claim.
The body of 20-year-old Richard Shoop was discovered at 3:20 a.m. this morning in an area of the Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus N.J., which was still under construction.
Shoop, who was wearing body armour and a motorcycle helmet, walked into the Garden State Plaza mall shortly before 9.30pm on Monday night and opened fire.
Bergen County prosecutors said Snoop, of Teanick, NJ, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an area deep withing the mall described as ‘a literal Byzantine area of new construction’, NBC reports.
Authorities say he had a history of hard drug abuse and was a frequent user of MDMA. But they said they do not believe he had intended to harm anyone but himself.
He reportedly left a note to his family at his home, before stealing his brother’s gun and setting off to the Westfield mall.
No one is understood to have been injured in the attack although up to 1,000 shoppers were left barricaded inside the building.
