SPU shooter Aaron Ybarra found guilty of murder
Nov 16, 2016, 11:13 AM | Updated: Feb 8, 2017, 11:32 pm
Aaron Ybarra was found of first-degree murder and faces more than 100 years in prison. (KIRO 7 screengrab)
(KIRO 7 screengrab)
The man accused of shooting three people, one fatally, at Seattle Pacific University in 2014, was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday morning.
Aaron Ybarra was also found guilty of three counts of first-degree attempted murder and one count of second-degree assault.
Prosecutors say Ybarra shot and killed 19-year-old Paul Lee at the university in June 2014.
Ybarra has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His plea was rejected.
After the verdict was read, KIRO 7 reports Ybarra said, “I wish it would never have happened.”
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 pre-meditation,” Deputy Assistant Prosecutor Kristin Richardson said during closing arguments.
KIRO 7 contributed to this story.
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