SPU shooter sentenced to 112 years for shooting spree
Feb 17, 2017, 6:58 AM | Updated: 2:21 pm
Aaron Ybarra was found of first-degree murder and faces more than 100 years in prison. (KIRO 7 screengrab)
(KIRO 7 screengrab)
The Seattle Pacific University shooter who killed one person and injured two others two years ago was sentenced Friday to 112 years in prison.
Before hearing his sentence, Aaron Ybarra apologized in court for shooting people at the university. He also apologized for wasting the time of two girls who gave him a tour of the school.
Trial of the SPU shooter
A jury convicted 29-year-old Ybarra of first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree attempted murder, and second-degree assault — all with firearms enhancements and a special aggravating circumstance because the shooting involved a destructive and foreseeable impact on people other than the victim.
Paul Lee, 19, was killed in the 2014 shooting. Two other students were wounded.
Ybarra tried to plead guilty by reason of insanity, but jurors said his journal and confession made clear he knew what he was doing was wrong.
“I wish it would never have happened,” Ybarra told the court after being found guilty of his crimes.
During the trial, Ybarra’s mother, Janice, testified that Aaron had developmental problems while he was growing up.
Janice Ybarra said in court that Aaron was familiar with weapons and had worked at the Kenmore Gun Range for years.
When Aaron Ybarra took the stand, he said he didn’t know what he’d done was real “until I was sitting in the backseat of the police car.”
Prosecutors argued that Aaron Ybarra had planned the killings ahead of the shootings in June of 2014 because three days before the shooting, Ybarra wrote in a journal “I know I will kill quite a few women.”
“(Ybarra wrote in his journal), “‘I just want people to die.’ That’s premeditation,” Deputy Assistant Prosecutor Kristin Richardson said during closing arguments.
