SEATTLE — KIRO 7 obtained the videotaped police interrogation of Aaron Ybarra minutes after the deadly shooting rampage at Seattle Pacific University.
In the chilling recording, Ybarra takes detectives from his troubled childhood to the attack he said he planned and his takedown by a school security guard.
Ybarra sat in an interrogation room for nearly six hours, and though the 26-year-old was still recovering from being pepper-sprayed by a school security guard when Seattle police detectives started the interview just before 5 p.m. on June 5, he appeared to be strangely mellow and forthright with police.
Calm and matter-of-fact, Ybarra told detectives he had struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder since he was 13, but said things got really bad three years ago when his parents changed his bedroom furniture.
He said that threw him off and he started having "bad feelings.”
Detective: "Can you describe the bad feelings to me?”
Ybarra: “I started -- I just felt nothing but hate -- 100 percent hatred toward the world -- toward everyone. I threatened to massacre the local bar once because I just wanted everyone to die."
Investigators said Ybarra made good on the threat when he walked onto the school campus and opened fire after planning the shooting spree.
Ybarra: "I'm sure nobody could tell that I was doing this, because I was being sneaky. I just wanted to be done and over with and die."
He told detectives he first tried to take two students hostage, but they laughed at him. He described what he said to the first victim.
Ybarra: "’Hey, you, get inside.’ He said, ‘Ha ha, you think you can scare me with that thing?’ And that's when I got mad and I was going to shoot people anyway, but I was really mad at him for doing that.”
Detective: “Was that the first guy you shot?”
Ybarra: “That's the first guy I shot. When he turned his back and started walking, I put one in his shoulder. I think it was his shoulder. I didn't see any blood, but I saw him go down. I was so pissed at him, because he didn't take me seriously. I hate it when people disrespect me. But I can't -- I'm incapable of letting out my true feelings. But when I first felt, I was able to get respect once I made that first shot."
At the end of the shooting spree, one student was dead and two others were injured.
Ybarra told detectives when he heard someone say a SWAT team had arrived, he felt relieved.
Ybarra: "Gave me no choice. I had no choice but to shoot ... I had to pay the price somehow."
In the interview, Ybarra said he planned to shoot people at Washington State University or Western, but felt like he just needed to "get it over with" and die, so he chose Seattle Pacific University instead.
Police said that despite admitting to the shootings, Ybarra has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for charges of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder.
KIRO
