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 yesterday,

and wounding 15-year-old kristina shevchenko, now in the hospital. columbine, virginia tech, aurora. in each of those rampages, the killer sent signals their lives had gone offcourse. this time, no sign of trouble. this afternoon, the woman who raised roberts released this picture of a once happy little boy. and asked her friend to read a statement. >> she has no understanding or explanation for her son's behavior. she is very sad and wants everyone to know she is so sorry what jake did and it's so out of his character. >> reporter: police are now running down search warrants on the shooter's home and car, trying to get in his frame of mind. so far, despite everything we know, from friends and family, there is just no good explanation as to what set him off. diane? >> neal karlinsky, our thanks to you. and as we said, we've gone back to track what happened minute by minute at the mall. who fled in terror and how so many managed to survive. and with that, now, is abc's david wright. >> reporter: today, we learned just how cold-blooded the killer was.

and 15-year-old cristina shevchenko is said -- kristina shevchenko is said to be recovering well in a portland hospital. the shooter didn't know any of his victims. >>> a british coroner officers confirms it was suicide that took the life of a nurse who was dupe need a radio hoax involving the pregnant duchess of cambridge. the report confirms the nurse was found hanging in her room. there were also three suicide notes there. the nurse had fallen for a prank by two radio hosts from australia who impersonated members of the royal family. >>> after weeks on the run, software tycoon john mcafee is back in the u.s., arriving in miami international airport yesterday after being kicked out of guatemala for entering the country illegally. mcafee snuck into guatemala to escape being questioned by police in belize on his neighbor's murder. no one knows where he is and what he plans to do next. >>> "fiscal cliff" christmas could be the new warning as negotiations come to a screeching halt once again. >> plus go-kart gone wild. the stunt caught on tape putting drivers in danger. >> and a live lo

she was a nurse, 45-year-old steven forsyth ran a business at that mall and 15-year-old kristina shevchenko is said to be recovering well in a hospital. the shooter did not know any of his victims. >>> a british coroner's office confirms it was suicide that took the life of a nurse who was duped into a radio hoax involving the pregnant duchess of cambridge. the report confirms the nurse was found hanging in her room. there were also three suicide notes there. the nurse fallen for a prank by two radio hosts from australia who impersonated members of the royal family. >>> software tycoon john mcafee is back in the u.s. but no one seemed to know where he is. he was last seen leaving miami international airport just before 5:00 last night after being kicked out of guatemala for entering the country illegally. he has been trying to dodge police in belize who wanted to question him about his neighbor's murder. >>> 6:40. the nominations are out. who is up for best picture at the golden globes? we'll tell you. >> plus, fists fly. what happens when a high school rivalry boils over. >> and the market

kristina shevchenko is in serious condition but expected to make a full recovery. the bullet went through her back, came out her chest and bruised her lung. we're learning more about the two killed. 45-year-old steven forsyth married with two kids, he owned a kiosk in the mall, a side job that was supposed to last through the holidays. and 54-year-old cindy ann yuille was a hospice nurse christmas shopping for her stepson. >> cindy was an amazing 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 adren

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 station. it reads, quote, tami roberts wishes to express her shock and grief at the events at clackamas town center on tuesday. she has no understanding or explanation f

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 tension on capitol hill. abc's jonathan karl is there. and both sides are giving up hope of solving this by christmas. >> reporter: that's right. in fact, speaker boehner and republican leaders have warned rank and file republicans that they should be prepa

they also found a third victim, a bullet had ripped into the chest of 15-year-old kristina shevchenko. trauma surgeons saved her life. and there may have been more deaths and injuries here, but mall workers and law enforcement had recently drilled for an event just like this at this mall. the mall went into lockdown very quickly. thousands of shoppers were taken to a safe place out of the line of fire of the shooter and that may have helped save lives here. charlie and gayle? >> john blackstone, thank you. >>> now this has many people concerned for the safety of a u.s. veteran. john palmetto survived the wars of afghanistan and now he's locked up in mexico for an honest mistake. he was arrested for carrying an antique shotgun over the border. >> we need to get him out before this is too late. >> reporter: for the parents of john hammer, the past four months have been a living nightmare. >> it's just absolutely paralyzing. >> reporter: in august, their son, a former marine, set out with a friend for a road trip to costa rica. it was supposed to be a surfing adventure. a healing get awa

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 emergency and reacted. >> reporter: reactions that clearly saved lives. david wright,

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 learning about this horrible, horrible incident? >> reporter: well, we're getting more information in terms of the chain of events. we k