SEATTLE — Four people were killed Friday night in a shooting at a mall north of Seattle and at least one suspect was at large, authorities said.

The Washington State Patrol said the four were shot at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, about 65 miles north of Seattle.

Sergeant Mark Francis said authorities were searching for a man wearing gray who was last seen walking toward Interstate 5. Francis said it wasn’t immediately known if more than one gunman was involved.

Francis said at about 8:30 p.m. that the mall had been evacuated and emergency medical personnel were cleared to enter and attend to any injuries. It wasn’t clear how many people were hurt.

The Cascade Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Burlington that opened in 1990, according to the mall’s website. It includes J.C. Penney, TJ Maxx, and Macy’s stores, among other shops, restaurants, and a movie theater.

In a separate multiple killing in Tennessee, officials said Friday that a man who fatally shot two supervisors and then killed himself at an electrical components plant in Athens had a state-issued permit to carry handguns in public.

Ricky Swafford, who had worked at the Thomas & Betts plant a more than 15 years, walked out of a meeting with the supervisors and returned with a pistol, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Niland said.

Swafford then shot supervisors Sandra Cooley and James Zotter before apparently turning the gun on himself in a restroom, she said.

‘‘There are no appearances at this point that this was anything that was planned,’’ Niland said.

‘‘He did have a meeting with his supervisors, and it was during that meeting that he apparently experienced some agitation.’’

Under a state law enacted in 2013, workers with carry permits are allowed to store firearms in vehicles parked at work regardless of their employers’ wishes. Thomas & Betts manager Pat Joyce said the company has an employee policy concerning firearms, but he declined to elaborate.

Niland said Swafford had no apparent criminal record. She could not confirm whether he had retrieved the gun from his car.

‘‘He came in and appears to have gone directly to the office where the two supervisors were and went directly to their location and that’s when he commenced shooting them,’’ Niland said.

Other employees either fled the building or locked themselves inside of rooms, Niland said.

The shooting was reported about 4:15 p.m. Thursday.

About 350 people work at the factory, roughly 55 miles northeast of Chattanooga.

Thomas & Betts is based in suburban Memphis. It designs and makes electrical components for industrial, commercial, lighting, and utility markets.

Joyce said officials and workers with the company are ‘‘heartbroken’’ over the shootings.

“We lost colleagues in a senseless act of violence. We have absolutely no understanding of what motivated the perpetrator,’’ he said. ‘‘We employ hard-working, talented, incredible, gifted people. We mourn as a community and as a community of co-workers.’’

The plant will remain closed until the company is ready to resume operations, and employees will be paid ‘‘during this time of grief,’’ he said.

In Lutherville, Md., on Friday, a police officer fatally shot a man who had robbed a bank and injured a second man involved in the robbery, firing through the windshield of their oncoming car, authorities said.

The shooting occurred as officers were seeking suspects Friday afternoon shortly after a bank robbery nearby, Baltimore County Police Corporal John Watchter said.

No weapons were recovered from the car or were found at the scene, authorities said.

They said the driver of the car died at a hospital and added the injuries to the second man, a passenger in the car who was taken into custody, didn’t appear life-threatening.

County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost tweeted later that the injured passenger was wanted in three area bank robberies by the FBI.