Seattle shooter had history of mental illness

Seattle shooting suspect reported 'a rage inside'

GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press

PHUONG LE, Associated Press

SEATTLE — In 2010, Aaron Ybarra called 911 to report "a rage inside him" and said he wanted to hurt himself and others, according to a police report of the incident.

Two years later, officers responded again — this time finding him lying in the middle of the street in front of his suburban Mountlake Terrace home, ranting drunkenly for a SWAT team "to get him and make him famous."

The rage and thirst for notoriety may have got the better of him Thursday, when police say he stormed into a sciences and engineering building on the leafy campus of Seattle Pacific University, armed with a shotgun and more than 50 shells.

He fatally shot a 19-year-old freshman and wounded two other young people before his plan to kill as many people as possible — and himself — was thwarted by a student building monitor who pepper-sprayed and tackled him as he reloaded, officials said.

A King County Superior Court judge ordered Ybarra, 26, held without bail Friday. His attorney, public defender Ramona Brandes, said he was on suicide watch at the jail.

"He is cognizant of the suffering of the victims and their families and the entire Seattle Pacific community," she said. "He is sorry."

In both of the earlier contacts with police, officers committed Ybarra involuntarily to Swedish Hospital in Edmonds for mental evaluations. Brandes said he has a long history of mental health problems for which he had been treated and medicated.

"We are so very shocked and sad over yesterday's shootings at SPU," Ybarra's family said in a statement. "We are crushed at the amount of pain caused to so many people. To the victims and their families, our prayers are with you."

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