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Marysville is about 35 miles north of Seattle.
MARYSVILLE — A freshman who shot five young people in the Marysville Pilchuck High School cafeteria sent text messages to his victims, arranging for the group to sit with him at lunch, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said Monday.
(Text of sheriff’s statement is below.)
Since Friday afternoon, detectives have been carefully piecing together what happened inside the cafeteria.
They are scouring phone and text records between the shooter and his victims. The boy’s parents agreed to allow detectives to seize the shooter’s electronics and search his room. The sheriff expects that the investigation will take months.
Trenary said he hopes people will focus less on possible motives and more on helping the community recover.
“Candidly, I don’t know the ‘Why?’ is something that we can provide,” Trenary said at a press conference.
Jaylen R. Fryberg, 14, opened fire late Friday morning in a bustling cafeteria. The freshman athlete, a Tulalip Tribal member, then turned the .40-caliber Berretta on himself. Jaylen died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the medical examiner confirmed Monday. His death was ruled a suicide.
Zoe R. Galasso, 14, was shot in the head and died at the scene. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Gia Soriano, 14, died Sunday night at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Dr. Joanne Roberts, the hospital’s chief medical officer, confirmed. The medical examiner is expected to determine the cause of her death later.
Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, was still in critical condition at Providence.
Andrew Fryberg, 15, also remained in critical condition in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Nate Hatch, 14, was upgraded to satisfactory condition. Harborview reported that he is awake and breathing on his own. The boys are cousins of the shooter.
Nate appeared to be posting on Twitter on Monday, including a message of love and forgiveness toward Jaylen Fryberg.
The three boys were close and the group had gone to homecoming together the week before.
Trenary said detectives are committed to a thorough investigation.
“Our responsibility is to work on behalf of the victims and in doing so we must collect facts,” Trenary said.
The shooting is being investigated by the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, a cadre of homicide detectives from around the county.
The sheriff said he wouldn’t speculate on anything being reported by media or on social media that had not been confirmed by detectives.
He believed the shooter had attended classes that day. The school district declined to verify that information on Monday, citing student privacy laws.
Witnesses confirmed that the five victims were at the table when the shooter opened fire.
The sheriff’s office also provided more detail about the actions of a first-year teacher who reportedly confronted the teen. Trenary said there was no physical contact between her and the shooter.
Detectives are still trying to determine how Jaylen obtained the handgun. It was legally purchased and registered to one of the shooter’s relatives, the sheriff said.
Trenary said he had no information about rumors that Jaylen left behind a letter for his family.
“We want to find answers to this tragedy as much as you do, but there is a process and right way of doing so,” he said.
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Sheriff’s statement on Marysville Pilchuck investigation
Here is a statement Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary read Monday at a press conference on the investigation into the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting:
Good afternoon. The purpose of this briefing is to provide some clarity to the investigation being conducted by the SMART Team.
As I mentioned on Friday, the Snohomish Multi-Agency Response Team is a group of highly skilled detectives from many of the law enforcement agencies in Snohomish County who work together on complex investigations.
The investigation into the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School began on Friday afternoon and will continue for several months.
Our responsibility is to work on behalf of the victims and in doing so we must collect facts.
I know that there is a tremendous amount of information that has been reported on by the media and content on social media.
I am not going to speculate on the accuracy of anything that has not been confirmed by detectives. Instead we will focus on the facts that our investigators are able to obtain through the integrity investigation.
There are a few new facts that have been obtained through our investigation:
The shooter had arranged to meet with friends at the lunch hour on Friday. Witnesses confirm that the five victims were at the table when the shooter opened fire, striking the victims before turning the gun on himself.
The handgun, a .40 caliber Berretta was purchased legally, registered, and owned by a family member of the shooter. We are still working to determine exactly how the shooter obtained the weapon prior to Friday’s shooting.
As I have stated, conducting an investigation of this scope takes time and we may not have answers to many of your questions for several months.
Our priority continues to be a thorough investigation.
Rather than focusing on why, I’d encourage us all to focus on the future and that we come together as a community to take the time to heal. This was a tragic event and we know from previous events that it takes the whole community to help comfort those who have lost so much.
We want to find answers to this tragedy as much as you do, but there is a process (and a right way) of doing so.
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Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
