semiautomatic rifle, killed 54-year-old cindy ann yuille, and 45-year-old steven forsyth. a third victim, 15-year-old kristina shevchenko was seriously wounded. >> this was a heartbreaking tragedy, by any standard. >> reporter: police are trying to figure out what triggered the brutal attack. unlike other rampages, roberts, they say, did not leave behind signals his life had gone off-course. in fact, he had no history of serious trouble. >> we do not understand the motive of this attack. >> reporter: roberts' ex-girlfriend, hannah sansburn, told abc news that roberts quit his job, sold all his belongings and said he was moving to hawaii. she still has no idea what set him off. >> this was the last thing i would ever have expected. especially from him. he was just too sweet. >> reporter: detectives say roberts made a beeline from his volkswagen jetta, parked in the mall lot, and entered macy's carrying the rifle, which he stole from someone he knew. roberts wore a ballistics vest that carried ammo, and a hockey-style mask. that grisly image, different than the one released

by the time he got to the food court, he was already firing, killing cindy ann yuille and steven forsyth. he shot down into the lower level courtyard, too, hitting kristina shevchenko, now in the hospital. then his gun jammed. police say roberts bolted down a flight of stairs, got his rifle working again and killed himself near jcpenney's. >> this was a heartbreaking tragedy by any standard. >> reporter: but today, everyone agreed it was a miracle only two people were killed. experts say in a situation like this, the most important thing is to make yourself less of a target. run away, or find cover, preferably behind something hard. >> the best being a free-standing atm or mailbox. get behind that because those are very hard surfaces. >> reporter: the mall santa dove to the floor. >> i know everybody else ran, well, to me, running is a target. >> reporter: a big red target, in your case. >> right. that was my thought. i said, you know, i'm a real good target. >> reporter: the mall had an emergency lockdown procedure designed for situations like this. >> from people who survive cases like

level, when he got to the food court, he was already reportedly firing, killing 54 hospice nurse cindy ann yuille, who was christmas shopping, and 45-year-old steven forsyth, a father of two, who owned a small business in the mall. he fired into the lower level, hitting this 15-year-old, now in the hospital. there his gun jammed. he bolted down a flight of stairs where he got his rifle working again, according to police, and killed himself near the jcpenney store. it was just the latest rampage in a violent year. july's massacre in aurora, colorado, killed 12, but it wasn't the only mass tragedy. april 2nd, seven dead on a university campus in oakland, california. in august and september, seven dead at a sikh temple in milwaukee, then six dead at a workplace in minneapolis. >> the ability to shoot and kill other human beings, to actually pull the trigger, requires the shooter look at these humans more as objects than other humans. when you're able to do that, it makes pulling that trigger so much easier. >> reporter: veteran fbi profiler mary ellen o'toole says the triggers for such random violen

by the time he got to the food court, he was already firing, killing cindy ann yuille and steven forsythurtyard, too. hitting kristina shevchenko, a 15-year-old. then his gun jammed. police say roberts bolted down a flight of stairs, got his rifle working again and killed himself near jcpenneys. >> this was a heartbreaking tragedy by any standard. >> reporter: everyone agreed it was a miracle only two people were killed. experts say in a situation like this, is most important thing is to make yourself less of a target. run away or find cover, preferably behind something hard. >> the best being a mailbox or freestanding atm. get behind that. because those are very hard surfaces. >> reporter: the mall santa dove to the floor. >> i know everybody else ran, but to me, running is a target. >> reporter: a big red target in your case. >> right. that was my thought. i said i'm a real good target. >> reporter: the mall had an emergency lockdown procedure designed for situations like this. >> from people who survive cases like this, you'll find they reacted quickly. they realized it was an emergen

and 54-year-old cindy ann yuille was a hospice nurse christmas shopping for her stepson. >> cindy wasamazing hospice nurse, she spent her life helping others transition to the end of life and her family never got to say good-bye. >> the mall is closed for a second day today but is expected to open at 9:00 tomorrow. >> gretchen: when you see the pictures of the victims and learn about their families, it's so senseless. can you tell us anything more you have learned about the shooter? >> reporter: still no concrete answers on why roberts did this. we're getting a better picture of him from a lot of sources, a lot of social media talking about him. he talked about himself on social media, on facebook he described himself as an adrenaline junky who liked shooting but most say no criminal history, no violent past. there's word he recently quit his job at a sandwich job, sold his belongings and planned to move to hawaii but missed his flight. a neighbor saw him leaving his apartment in a hurry carrying a guitar case. his mom issued a statement through a friend. >> tammy wishes to express he

and this is 54-year-old cindy ann yuille.ys she was everybody's friend. she leaves behind a 23-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old stepson. steve forsyth also had two children and loved to coach kids sports. the 45-year-old businessman had a zest for life, a wicked sense of humor and never said a bad word about anyone. christina is in stable but serious condition with bullet fragments in her lung and her liver. doctors say the 15-year-old will recover but faces more surgery. >>> and this is the man would unleashed the carnage, 22-year-old jacob roberts. shocked friends say he was kind and upbeat and studying to become a firefighter. dan simon is in happy valley, oregon with the very latest for us. >> reporter: roberts' name surfaced less than 24 hours ago. at this point we didn't really have a motive. investigators say they found no violent history, no criminal history, but if you look a little deeper, perhaps there is some hints about his emotional well. for instance if you look on his facebook page, you notice that he poste

cindy ann yuille and matthew forsyth. he was 54 years old, had two children. coached youth children and had a zest for life. cindy was a nurse and people say she also put others first. a third victim, 15-year-old kristina shevchenko is recovering. she may need more surgeries to fully heal. she and cindy and matthew were shot last evening, at the clackamas town center, by this young man. police say he was acting alone and took his own life as police arrived on the scene. >> during this attack, he was armed with an ar-15 semiautomatic rifle. the rifle was stolen yesterday from a person known to the suspect. at the time of the attack, he was wearing a load-bearing vest, not a bulletproof vest as earlier reported by some outlets. he was also wearing a hockey-style face mask. and we have not yet been able to establish how many shots were fired during the attack, although we believe he was carrying several fully loaded magazines. >> a friend of the killer tells cnn he can't believe he did this. a friend of his mother, meantime, gave the following letter to a local tv

. >> gretchen: roberts killed 54-year-old nurse cindy ann yuille and 45-year-old father of two, stevend can download an app to track his wife's location without her ever knowing? it's about to be illegal today. the senate judiciary committee is about to outlaw cyber stalking apps that run in secret on cell phones. i guess this would be if women wanted to follow men, right? >> steve: anybody. >> gretchen: one week from today, we will hear from secretary of state hillary clinton on the benghazi, libya attack that left chris stevens and three other americans dead. she is going to testify now before the house and senate foreign affairs committee. it will be on december 20. the obama administration has been under fire for not giving help to the consulate and denying that it was actually a terrorist attack for several weeks. u.n. ambassador susan rice as you recall went on five morning talk shows shortly after, saying the attack was because it was that video, spontaneous. >>> here is proof that the cameras are always rolling, even in the commercial break. ♪ . >> gretchen: that's what we do d

among the dead, 54-year-old hospice nurse, cindy ann yuille, who was christmas shopping.n a complete stranger, stayed with her and performed cpr. >> she died with dignity. and she did not die alone. >> reporter: 45-year-old steven forsyth, a father of two, was also killed. but 15-year-old kristina shevchenko was shot in the chest and survived. amazingly, her second brush with death in less than a year, after being injured in a head-on car crash in august. >> it's clear to me, she's a very brave young woman. >> reporter: that lucky young lady is listed in serious condition right now. she is expected to recover. just remarkable this whole thing wasn't so much worse. meanwhile, back here at the mall, shop owners are beginning to wonder when they can reopen, during this critical time of year for them. george? >> okay, neal, thanks very much. >>> let's get the latest, now, on that fiscal cliff. just 19 days before everyone's taxes go up. every federal program is cut. and there's no signs of any progress from president obama and house speaker john boehner, which is raising the

investigators are calling heinous. 54-year-old cindy ann yuille is described as everybody's friend who matthew forsyth is being remembered as a passionate and zest for life. kristina shevchenko remains hospitalized in serious condition. dan, what do we know about the gunman? >> reporter: wolf, we can tell you that the shooter stole the gun that was used during the attack, according to authorities, stole the gun just the day before it happened. came here to the mall, police side fied the shooter as 22-year-old jacob tyler roberts of portland. >> the weapon recovered is an ar-47 rifle. the gun actually jammed and that likely prevented even more loss of life. at this point, we haven't found anything that would suggest a motive. this is somebody, according to people we've talked to, was very popular in high school. seemed to be well adjusted. the oregonian reporting that last year the shooter lost his apartment due to a foreclosure, which may suggest there was some kind of financial situation but that certainly doesn't begin to explain why this happened, wolf. >> what else, dan, are you le