Originally published on November 6, 2013

The man responsible for firing shots inside the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jersey on Monday night (November 4) was found dead hours later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Richard Shoop, reportedly left a note at home before the shooting that said "the end was coming", Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli told CNN.

However, Molinelli added that Shoop's goal was most likely to kill himself or have the police shoot him, as he did not shoot other people even when he had the opportunity to.

Shoop's brother Kevin called the authorities have news of the shooting broken, saying he thought his brother may be the gunman.

"We're not sure exactly what caused him to do this, and we're all devastated," Kevin Shoop told reporters, ""My brother intended to harm nobody else but himself. He just, sadly, decided to make ... an act of self-indulgence by taking his own life publicly. And it's a tragedy to us all."

Gunfire inside the mall were reported at around 9:20 p.m. on Monday night, just as the shopping center was about to close. At the time, thousands of people were still inside the mall. Witnesses said they saw Shoop enter the shopping center dressed all in black and wearing a motorcycle helmet, carrying a rifle that was modified to look like an AK-47. According to Molinelli, the rifle was taken from Shoop's brother.

According to the New York Daily News, police found Shoop's body hours later at round 3:20 a.m. on Tuesday in a construction area of the basement, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

--------------------------------------------------------

TomoNews is your daily source for top animated news. We've combined animation and video footage with a snarky personality to bring you the biggest and best stories from around the world.

For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TomoNewsUS

Subscribe to stay updated on all the top stories:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=TomoNewsUS

Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://gplus.to/TomoNewsUS