MUKILTEO, Wash. (AP) — A young man charged in a mass shooting at a Washington state house party last summer has been writing rap lyrics from jail bragging about killing — writings that could influence whether prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty in his case, a newspaper reported.
The material included a letter that 20-year-old defendant Allen Ivanov penned to a former Snohomish County jail inmate convicted of murder.
It starts with “rap ideas” and the lyrics focus on guns, violence and what Ivanov calls the “murder game,” the Daily Herald of Everett reported Tuesday (https://goo.gl/cCPDVQ ), citing records it obtained through a public records request.
The lyrics appear to reference the July 30 shooting in Mukilteo that left three people dead and one injured, the newspaper reported. Authorities say Ivanov opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle he had just purchased.
The letter was written to Christopher Garcia-Gonzalez, who is serving 20 years after being convicted of murdering a piano teacher after answering the man’s online ad for a “hot male housekeeper.”
“I knew she knew who I was ‘cause I saw her face right before I pulled the trigger,” Ivanov wrote, the Herald said.
Ivanov is charged with aggravated murder in the killings of his ex-girlfriend, Anna Bui, and Jacob Long and Jordan Ebner, all 19. Another man, Will Kramer, then 18, survived after being shot in the back.
Investigators said Ivanov was upset that Bui was moving on with her life.
The materials also include a six-page, single-spaced letter Ivanov reportedly wrote just before the shooting. At least part of it reached his mother, who turned it over to police.
“You know what’s funny? The media is going to portray me as some unstable, overly emotional, crazy lunatic,” the letter reads. “There’s nothing wrong (with) me or the way I think. There’s really nothing wrong with me: I have a roof over my head, access to food and resources, a loving family, an amazing job, etc. I’m selfish. That’s why I did this.”
The letter also suggests he knew what he was planning was wrong: “Is this the right thing to do? Of course (expletive) not. Never, ever, ever, ever in a trillion years. Taking lives is insane. This is like my early
retirement. I’m giving up on solving things. I’m a loser. I quit,” the newspaper reported, citing the documents.
Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe is weighing whether to seek the death penalty for Ivanov. The young man’s lawyers, Walter Peale and Karen Halverson, have been working to compile information that might persuade him not to. A decision is expected next month.
The documents obtained by the newspaper included more than 390 pages of text messages between Ivanov and one of his friends — some released previously — that indicate Ivanov first started talking about shooting Bui on July 22. Within hours, he was sending his friend links to information about military-style weapons available at gun stores in Lynnwood and Marysville.
Ivanov’s friend repeatedly pleaded with him to stop talking about hurting people, to get some help and to not obtain a firearm.
After Ivanov bought the gun, the friend asked if he really intended to shoot Bui.
“I feel like im talking to a future serial killer,” the friend wrote.
“I’m just stuntin (sic) nothing will happen,” Ivanov replied.
But in the ensuing days, Ivanov wrote about how much pain he was in.
“im gonna do it,” Ivanov wrote in one of the messages.
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