Prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek the death penalty against 19-year-old Allen Ivanov.
The 19-year-old man accused of killing three teens and wounding a fourth at a Mukilteo house party last month pleaded not guilty Monday to murder charges that could result in the death penalty.
Allen Ivanov pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder during a brief hearing in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Aggravated first-degree murder is punishable by either life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Snohomish County prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek the death penalty.
Ivanov, a University of Washington Bothell student, is accused of opening fire on a gathering of friends at a home in Mukilteo’s Chennault Beach neighborhood just after midnight July 30. Prosecutors contend Ivanov was angry that his former girlfriend had rebuffed his efforts to reconcile.
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Killed in the shootings were Ivanov’s ex-girlfriend Anna Bui, Jake Long and Jordan Ebner. All three victims were 19 and were 2015 graduates of Kamiak High School, where Ivanov also went to school.
A fourth person, Will Kramer, 18, was wounded and is recovering at home.
In revised charging documents filed Friday, prosecutors allege that Ivanov told at least two friends through texts and social media that he had recently purchased an AR-15 assault-style rife and planned to shoot his ex-girlfriend and others.
In one text, Ivanov wrote “ima shooter” and identified himself as “Allen Ivanov ‘Future Shooter,’ ” prosecutors wrote in the documents.
When a second friend asked him why, Ivanov replied, “I hate Anna and I need revenge,” the documents say.
The friend told Ivanov to forget about Bui and suggested he go deer hunting, but Ivanov replied, “no, I’m killing everyone at a huge party,” according to the documents.
Prosecutors say the writings contradict statements that Ivanov allegedly made to police after his arrest, in which he claimed he snapped and was acting on “Adrenalin” when he opened fire on the party.
Ivanov was identified as a suspect just moments after the shootings in chilling 911 calls made by those who were in the Mukilteo home when gunfire erupted. One caller, a female, told a dispatcher she was holed up with others in a bathroom.
“Someone just came into my house and started shooting all my friends. We’re trapped in the bathroom,” one female caller told a dispatcher. “It’s Allen Ivanov, apparently. They’re 99 percent sure the shooter was Allen Ivanov, and he shot his girlfriend.”
Ivanov is being held without bail.
Defense attorney Tim Leary has said he was troubled that Ivanov was able to buy an assault-style rifle but was too young to buy a six-pack of beer. He noted the police contention that Ivanov read the AR-15’s instruction manual just before the shooting “speaks volumes to his youth and inexperience.”