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Seattle suburb mourns deaths of 3 shot at house party

By Associated Press
Published: July 31, 2016, 2:29pm

MUKILTEO — Hundreds of young people lit candles and exchanged hugs in a high school parking lot as a small waterfront community north of Seattle mourned the loss of three people fatally shot at a party of young adults in an upscale neighborhood.

A vigil was held at Kamiak High School on Saturday night where people passed lit candles to one another. Another vigil was planned Sunday at a local church.

“It feels really good to have a community to be connected to,” Olga Manko told Q13. “I thank God for that, because not a lot of places have that.”

State troopers said they pulled over and arrested the fleeing 19-year-old suspect on an interstate more than 100 miles away following the early Saturday shooting. In addition to the three people slain, another was wounded in Mukilteo.

Susan Gemmer, the grandmother of one of the witnesses, said the gunman arrived with a rifle at the party of about 15 to 20 friends from Kamiak High — mostly recent graduates aged 18 to 20. The gunman walked through the house to the fire pit out back, where he shot two people. Those present knew the gunman, Gemmer said, and he and one of those shot had broken up last week.

Gemmer said of her 18-year-old granddaughter, Alexis, hid in a closet and called her during the shooting.

“We were texting back and forth, telling her to stay quiet, stay calm, we’re on our way. She kept saying, ‘They’re dead, they’re dead, I saw them, I was right there and I saw them,”‘ Gemmer told The Associated Press.

Police did not immediately release the name of the suspect, but a man named Allen Christopher Ivanov was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Saturday afternoon for investigation of three counts of murder, including one of aggravated murder, which can bring the death penalty.

It was unclear whether Ivanov had obtained an attorney. He was expected to face a court appearance Monday.

“We have no reason to believe there are other suspects and we’re not actively looking for anyone else at this time,” Mukilteo Police Department Officer Myron Travis said Sunday.

He declined to release more information, including the names of the victims. He said a news conference will likely be held Monday afternoon.

Victor Balta, spokesman for the University of Washington, said a student matching Ivanov’s name, age and hometown of Mukilteo has been enrolled at the university’s campus in nearby Bothell, where he was going into his sophomore year.

The shooting happened in the upscale Chennault neighborhood of Mukilteo, a town of about 20,000 people, 25 miles north of Seattle.

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