Mukilteo shooting suspect pleads guilty

A Washington man who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and two other former high school classmates last July at a Seattle-area house party pleaded guilty Monday to the murders, the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office confirms.

Allen Christopher Ivanov is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, according to Snohomish County Superior Court records. Ivanov pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder in their deaths, plus two counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at others attending the party, according to charging documents.

On July 30, 2016, a mass shooting occurred during a house party held by students of the University of Washington and Kamiak High School in the affluent community of Mukilteo, a suburb of Everett and Seattle, Washington. Three people were killed and one person was injured. Afterwards, the gunman fled the scene.

Ninety minutes after the shooting, a suspect, identified as 19-year-old Allen Christopher Ivanov, was arrested near Chehalis. On August 2, he was charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder, and assault; and he pleaded not guilty to all of the charges on August 22.

The shooting led to calls for gun control in Washington state.

Before the shooting, a house party was being held in Mukilteo. About fifteen to twenty university and high school students, most of them graduates, were in attendance. The gunman arrived at the party at around 10:00 p.m. and observed the party unarmed.

After some time, he retrieved his rifle, crept around the side of the house, and concealed himself along a wall in the living room. He was discovered by Jacob Long, who he shot and killed just after midnight. He then entered the house, where he shot and wounded William Kramer, and shot at another man, but missed. He then shot and killed Jordan Ebner and Anna Bui. Afterwards, the gunman went upstairs to a balcony on the master bedroom, and began firing down onto two men, who both escaped unharmed.

During the shooting, some survivors hid and contacted their relatives. A total of three people were killed and one other person was injured.

Right after the shooting, the suspect fled the house after realizing he had run out of ammunition. Local detectives tracked him down by pinging his cellphone and contacting the Washington State Patrol for assistance. Ninety minutes later, he was arrested without incident by state troopers on an interstate near Chehalis, over 100 miles (160 km) away from the crime scene. An AR-15-type rifle and two magazines were recovered from his vehicle.

Allen Christopher Ivanov, a 19-year-old software engineer and student at the University of Washington Bothell, was identified as the suspect in the shooting. Days before the shooting, he made troubling posts on his Twitter account and also posted Instagram photos of a rifle and three bullets. He was reportedly familiar to those who attended the party. According to a LinkedIn profile, Ivanov attended Kamiak High School from 2011 to 2015, and was the founder of a company that described itself as "an open source laser tag system".

About a week before the shooting, Ivanov purchased the rifle he used, and then purchased a second magazine on the day prior. According to court documents, right before committing the shooting, Ivanov read the rifle's manual. He also sent text messages to his friends, including one in Tennessee, alluding to his plans to commit a mass shooting a couple of days beforehand, calling himself a "future shooter".Police say he was motivated by the recent breakup between him and one of the victims, and his anger that his ex-girlfriend seemed to be moving along in her life. 

The victims were identified as:

• Anna Bui, 19, a University of Washington Bothell student from Everett, who was also reportedly Ivanov's ex-girlfriend.
• Jordan Ebner, 19, of Lake Stevens.
• Jake Long, 19, of Everett.
• Will Kramer, 18, a University of Washington student from Mukilteo who was seriously injured and taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. He was released from the hospital on August 15.