Gunman Allen Ivanov entered a home in Suburban Seattle early Saturday morning and killed three teens, including his ex-girlfriend Anna Bui. The attack came after 19-year-old Ivanov became upset with Bui because he thought she seemed to be moving on with her life after their relationship. Ivanov and Bui were students at the University of Washington.
In a probable-cause statement released on Monday, police said Ivanov had little to no familiarity with the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle he had recently purchased. Just before the attack, Ivanov parked across the street and read the gun's instruction manual.
Ivanov was arrested by state troopers more than 100 miles from the scene of the crime in Mukilteo, a north Seattle suburb, according to the Associated Press. Upon his arrest, he confessed to the killings and made police aware of his motive.
Mukilteo Police Detective John Ernst wrote 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 said. "He said that he creeped up toward the house and saw [Anna] 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."
The gunman then returned to the backyard where he was found by another young man attending the party.
"The male said, 'No, no no,'" Ernst said. "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."
KING reports that Ivanov had originally broken up with Bui, but realized he wanted to get back together after receiving Snapchats showing Bui was moving on. While the two had started hanging out again in the week before the shooting, Ivanov became angry when he found out she was still seeing other guys, according to Ernst's statement.
Ivanov's attorney, Tim Leary, asked in court why it's legal for a 19-year-old to buy a semi-automatic rifle.
"If he would have walked into a 7-Eleven and tried to buy a six-pack of beer, he would have been turned away," Leary said. "When you look at someone who's 19, what they can and can't do is very troubling, and the consequences of that could not be any greater for the victims, for my client and for the community at large."
Ivanov is currently being held without bail and prosecutors have until Wednesday to press charges. This case just shows the horror of pairing internalized misogyny with deadly weapons.
