EVERETT — A young man who shot and killed three people at a house party in July near Seattle pleaded guilty Monday, one day before a prosecutor was to announce his decision on whether to seek the death penalty.
Investigators said Allen Ivanov attacked the July 30 gathering in the small city of Mukilteo because he was upset that his former girlfriend seemed to be moving on after their breakup.
The 20-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for wounding two other victims, The Daily Herald newspaper of Everett reported.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Janice Ellis set sentencing for Jan. 12. Aggravated murder is punishable only by life in prison without release or execution.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has imposed a moratorium on capital punishment, but that doesn’t bar prosecutors from requesting it.
Ivanov was charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, Anna Bui, as well as Jacob Long and Jordan Ebner, who were all 19.
He bought an AR-15-style rifle with two 30-round clips in the days before the shootings, authorities have said. He had never fired the weapon before heading to the house party, and he was so unfamiliar with its operation that he sat outside the party and read the firearm’s instruction manual before he started shooting, police said.
Ivanov’s attorneys had sought more time to gather evidence before Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe announced his decision on whether to seek capital punishment, suggesting that Ivanov may have had untreated neurological problems. The judge declined that request last week.
Before the shooting, Ivanov wrote a six-page letter explaining that he was upset over the breakup. He insisted there was nothing wrong with him or the way he thinks.
“I’m selfish. That’s why I did this,” Ivanov wrote in the letter.
