SPU Shooter Found Guilty

On November 16, 2016, a jury found Aaron Ybarra guilty of first-degree murder in the June 2014 shootings at Seattle Pacific University that killed one student and injured two others. Ybarra had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury, acknowledging Ybarra’s history of mental illness, rejected the plea concluding that Ybarra was fully aware of what he was doing and that the crime was premeditated.

Otto Miller Hall, SPU, 2016

Trolley Barn at Ross, undated

Student Paul Lee was killed by Ybarra on the sidewalk outside SPU’s Otto Miller Hall (formerly a municipal railway trolley barn). Thomas Fowler was hit by pellets from the shot that killed Lee. Ybarra attempted to shoot a second person outside Otto Miller Hall, but his gun misfired. Entering the building, Ybarra critically wounded student Sarah Williams and attempted to shoot a second student. Student monitor Jon Meis then tackled Ybarra ending the shootings. Ybarra faces 88 to 111 years in prison. His attorney plans to appeal. (Seattle Times, November 17, 2016, p. B1). For more information see this Seattle Times article and this earlier posting on qahistory.org.