Hundreds gathered for a community vigil Sunday

Hundreds gathered for a community vigil Sunday

Police: Man read gun manual just before attack on Mukilteo party

  • The Associated Press
  • Tuesday, August 2, 2016 12:01am
  • News

The Associated Press

MUKILTEO — A 19-year-old man who shot and killed three people Saturday at a party in Mukilteo was so unfamiliar with his newly purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that he parked his car across the street and read the firearm’s instruction manual just before the attack, police wrote in a probable-cause statement made public Monday.

Allen C. Ivanov was arrested by state troopers on Interstate 5 more than 100 miles from the bloody scene in Mukilteo, a north Seattle suburb, authorities said.

They said he confessed to the killings and that he did it because he was angry that his ex-girlfriend, Anna Bui, seemed to be moving on with her life after their recent breakup. She was one of the victims.

The document also indicates that Ivanov gave a few indications of his troubling intent: He texted someone last week in Tennessee “regarding committing a mass shooting”; he posted on Twitter, “What’s Ruger gonna think” — an apparent reference to the manufacturer of his rifle; and that he told his supervisor at an electronics store on Friday that the previous night he had put the rifle in the trunk of his car and gone to a quiet spot and just sat.

Ivanov was scheduled to make a court appearance later Monday. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.

Ivanov had bought the assault-style weapon about a week before the attack, saying he planned to use it for target practice and that he had signed up for a gun-safety class this month, Mukilteo Police Detective John Ernst wrote in the probable-cause statement.

“Ivanov stated that he showed up to the homicide scene at approximately 2200 hours, and parked across the street and watched,” Ernst wrote.

“He said that he creeped up toward the house and saw A with another male and got angry. He said that he returned to his car, read the instruction manual for the rifle, loaded the magazine, placed the magazine in the rifle, and sent the rifle’s selector switch to ‘safe.’ He then returned to the victim house property.”

Ivanov told detectives he creeped around the back of the house and hid near the living room windows, where he was eventually discovered by one of the young men attending the party.

“The male said, ‘No, no no,’” Ernst wrote. “Ivanov stated that he was ‘scared,’ he flipped the selector switch to fire and shot the male. He stated that at that point it was too late to turn back, and once he had pulled the trigger his adrenaline kicked in.”

Ivanov said he entered the house through a side door, found Bui and shot her twice, then continued through the house, saw through the front door another man running toward the house and shot him, according to the probable-cause statement.

From a balcony off the master bedroom, he said, he shot at two more men in the driveway before going onto the roof, realizing his magazine was empty and fleeing.

In addition to Bui, of Everett, Jordan Ebner, of Lake Stevens, and Jacob Long, of Everett, were killed.

They were all 19 and recent graduates of Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, a waterfront city of 21,000 people.

A fourth person, 18-year-old Will Kramer, was wounded and remained in serious condition Monday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Bui and Ivanov were students at the University of Washington.

More in News

Residents of various manufactured home parks applaud the Sequim City Council’s decision on Dec. 9 to approve a new overlay that preserves manufactured home parks so that they cannot be redeveloped for other uses. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Sequim preserves overlay for homes

Plots can be sold, but use must be same

A ballot box in the Sequim Village Shopping Center at 651 W. Washington St. now holds two fire suppressant systems to prevent fires inside after incidents in October in Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore. A second device was added by Clallam County staff to boxes countywide to safeguard ballots for all future elections. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Political party officials fine with Clallam’s loss of bellwether

With election certified, reps reflect on goals, security

For 20-plus years, Bob and Kelly Macaulay have decorated their boat and dock off East Sequim Bay Road for Christmas, seen here more than a mile away. However, the couple sold their boat earlier this year. (Doug Schwarz)
Couple retires Christmas boat display on Sequim Bay

Red decorations lit up area for 20-plus years

Hurricane Ridge day lodge funding held up in Congress

The fate of $80 million in funding to rebuild… Continue reading

Judy Davidson, left, and Kathy Thomas, both of Port Townsend, look over the skin care products offered by Shandi Motsi of Port Townsend, one of the 20 vendors at the second annual Procrastinators Craft Fair at the Palindrome/Eaglemount Cidery on Friday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Procrastinators Market

Judy Davidson, left, and Kathy Thomas, both of Port Townsend, look over… Continue reading

Services could be impacted by closure

Essential workers won’t get paid in shutdown

A now-deceased male cougar was confirmed by Panthera and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff to have been infected with Avian influenza on the Olympic Peninsula. (Powell Jones/Panthera)
Two cougars infected with bird flu die

Risk of human infection still low, CDC says

D
Readers contribute $58K to Home Fund to date

Donations can be made for community grants this spring

Jefferson Elementary School in Port Angeles designated Thursday dress up like a candy cane day. Back row, from left to right, they are: Wyatt Farman, Ari Ownby, Tayo Murdach, Chloe Brabant, Peyton Underwood, Lola Dixon, River Stella (in wheelchair), Fenja Garling, Tegan Brabant, Odessa Glaude, Eastyn Schmeddinger-Schneder. Front row: Ellie Schneddinger-Schneder, Cypress Crear, Bryn Christiansen and Evelyn Shrout. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Dress like a candy cane

Jefferson Elementary School in Port Angeles designated Thursday dress up like a… Continue reading

EYE ON THE PENINSULA: Jefferson commissioners to meet on Monday

Meetings across the North Olympic Peninsula

A 40-year-old Quilcene man died and a 7-year-old boy was airlifted to a Seattle hospital after the car in which they were riding collided with the back of a school bus on Center Road on Friday morning. (East Jefferson Fire Rescue)
One dies in two-vehicle collision involving school bus

A 40-year-old Quilcene man died and a 7-year-old boy was… Continue reading

Iris McNerney of from Port Townsend is like a pied piper at the Port Hudson Marina. When she shows up with a bag of wild bird seed, pigeons land and coo at her feet. McNerney has been feeding the pigeons for about a year and they know her car when she parks. Gulls have a habit of showing up too whenever a free meal is available. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Feeding the birds

Iris McNerney of from Port Townsend is like a pied piper at… Continue reading