Four people have been shot dead at a mall in northwest Washington state and the gunman has fled the scene, police said.

The shooting occurred at about 7 p.m. local time Friday at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, about 65 miles (105 km) north of Seattle, Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis said in a Twitter post.

A local hospital told a CBS affiliate that it has received one casualty from the shooting. The station reported that a nearby high school football game was evacuated as a precaution.

Francis said police were actively searching for the shooter, who was described as a "Hispanic male wearing gray" and last seen walking toward a nearby highway away from the mall.

"Tragedy has struck in Washington tonight. Our hearts are in Burlington," Governor Jay Inslee said on Twitter.

Rescue workers were entering the mall to attend to the injured, Francis said in a Twitter post.

The shooting comes less than a week after a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead. The FBI is investigating that attack as a potential act of terrorism.

NBC News reported that Washington State Patrol have said that there is no indication of terrorism in the shooting in Burlington.