The Tragedy at Seattle Pacific University

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Sukis past on. Le bois avery dead podcast, So La Criminality the
Discut de villemont Ncier. What Happensin the Woods is a true crime podcast.
We discuss events that are often violentin nature. Listener's discretion is advised.

(00:40):
Well, hello friends, and welcomeback to the campfire. We are
back with our second episode for thisseason. Hi, Bryce, Hello,
I don't know why that makes youlaugh, I say hello, Yeah,
but I don't never know when toexpect. That's the thing I can keep
you guessing. I mean, can'tcan't be predictable. Well, we do

(01:10):
have kind of a special announcement,a little special announcement. So we are
coming up on our hundredth episode,and we decided that we needed to do
something pretty fucking spectacular, something we'venever done before, something that I'm not

(01:34):
sure still, but I'm all in. Yeah, yeah, So for our
hundredth episode, we are going todo what everybody loves, everybody's favorite,
especially Bryce's. We're doing a specialWTF episode, but with a twist.

(01:57):
Go on, do tell. Sowe're gonna assemble the gang and we're going
to give you a live episode.M yeah. So September one, which
is a Friday, we will joinI don't know, join hands in what

(02:20):
the fuck are You? And we'regonna bring you a very special WTF Live
six pm Pacific time, so ninepm Eastern Standard. And you know,
it could be the most wonderful thingwe've ever done, or it could be

(02:42):
well, it could just be wonderful. The fuckery will be real. Let
the chaos and sue. Yeah,it's unscripted, yep, nobody knows what's
going to happen. But yeah,we want to celebrate our hundredth episode.
Yeah, and we want to doit in a way that others can participate.

(03:05):
Yeah. Yeah, we want youguys to be with us, live,
enjoy us as these things just flowout of our mouths to discuss.
Yeah, and you guys can interact, ask questions, you know, give
us your opinions on these what thefucks that we find to discuss. The

(03:29):
fun facts will be there, sowe've got all the ogeeves. Everybody's participating.
It's gonna be good times. Sothere's going to be some more details
to follow. We're thinking Instagram rightnow. We're just thinking that's the easiest
platform for everybody to be able tonavigate and join us, So we want

(03:52):
to make it easy for you guysto join, and there's going to be
an even more special announcement during thatlive Yeah yeah, ye can't hardly wait.
Okay, we're excited. We're excitedabout it. I hope they you

(04:15):
know, a lot of people cancan join us for it. So we're
giving you plenty of time if youcan't RSVP. You know, over a
month from now, what are youdoing with your life? Like, we're
giving you so much time to rearrangeschedules. The puppies will be here,
I'm sure. Well, the podcastpuppies. That's really going to be chaotic.

(04:36):
I don't think everybody knows like theyare hanging out right now, and
they know when we record, theyjust lay here. Yeah, they just
come and hang out and you know, at some point somebody will make a
noise, but of course, yeah, but no, they love it.
They love to come in here andjust sit with us while we're chit chatting

(04:57):
doing whatever. They're always with us. Yeah all right, Well, hopefully
that is something that everybody's looking forwardto. We are and we hope that
everybody's excited to join with us.So September one, one hundredth episode.
All right, any other announcements,Yeah, yeah, we did a thing

(05:19):
in March. Oh yeah, sowe did an interview for crime Door TV
in March and I don't know,we just I don't know how we miss
it. They said it would beat the end of March that it would
be released. They said mid April, and oh, yeah, I guess

(05:40):
it was. I it was deadsmack April and we were looking somewhere else.
We were looking on two B TVand yeah, it came out on
the Roku channel. Yeah. Ithink that's where the live like the current
in live shows are coming. ButI was looking at to be or what's

(06:05):
the other one. I don't know, Well, it goes to um I
want to say, Discord. Itgoes to Plex also, and so I
kept checking Plex and it wasn't onany one of those they like. Yeah.
So I was also looking for aspecific episode number and it ended up

(06:27):
not being that episode number. Yeah. So, I you know, and
then life, the further you getaway from things, the more you your
space for remembering things is limited.So I, I don't know, it
was really a big deal when wedid it, and I, I don't

(06:47):
know, you kind of have thisfeeling of I'm really not that important.
So it's not like I think aboutthese things that much like, oh,
we were interviewed and we were justso big deal. Now, it wasn't
like that. It was it wasa great experience. It was a unique
thing to do, and it wasyou know, it sounds cliche, it

(07:14):
was an honor to be able totake part in something like that. So
yeah, and I mean that wholeteam was easy to work with, especially
Sydney. Surprising thing is she knewhow to pronounce yeah. Yeah, she
didn't even stutter. No, shewas awesome. Yeah, So it was
really a great thing to have happenedfor our little podcast. Ye tiny,

(07:40):
tiny podcast. Yeah it was.It was a big deal. And we
will link the episode so that everybodycan check it out. But please,
you know, they've done well overone hundred episodes of this. Now.
They do a really good job aboutdiscussing cases that are not I mean,

(08:03):
yeah, they're they're in the forefront, but there are a lot of things
that they discuss and a lot ofpeople that they have on for discussion and
panel that are not getting mainstream mediaattention. And it is I think now
more than ever that is vital tokeeping certain cases and certain you know,

(08:30):
just certain ways of looking at thingsand changes and discoveries and things. It's
important to not have everything that isbeing portrayed in the mainstream media get attention.
There needs to be attention brought tosome of these things, and they
are definitely doing that and they're doingit well, and so I'm happy to

(08:54):
support them in any way we cantoo, So please, you know,
keep checking them out. Don't justgo and watch our episode, but really,
you know, check them out andyou will get introduced to other things
from from that. So yeah,it was really cool. Yeah, it
was nerve wracking. Yeah. Yeah. And for more on this case,

(09:18):
we've got Jess Embrace with us today, the cost couple of the podcast.
Thank you both so much for coiningus today, for having us. Yeah,
and let's talk more about this case. So I know, it's a
really good episode and like I said, that team made us feel at home
and not not weird it out.But yeah, definitely go check it out.
It's on the road Coup channel,Crime Door TV and in we're episode

(09:39):
ninety seven. Like you said,we'll link it. We'll link it on
Instagram, we'll link it on ourwebsite. Yeah, yeah, we're kind
of a big deal. I mean, just slightly. Yeah, you know,
I'm kind of disappointed this year.As much as we talked about it.

(10:00):
It was so important last year.There there isn't another true current best
this year. Yeah, they didn'teven plan one, or we're just not
invited, But no, there isnothing. I've looked at the website.
We weren't that bad. Whatever,We weren't that bad. Yeah, that's
all right. We had fun inthe corner. It was a party corner.
It was fine. I'm kind ofI'm disappointed. I didn't think I

(10:24):
would be disappointed if we didn't dothat again, but I kind of am.
Yeah, I don't know. Ithink it would be you know,
for any of our listeners that listenin Seattle, if you guys are interested
in local shows like that. Iknow we're not the only podcast that we'll

(10:46):
do live shows, you know,there's other I think it would be really
cool to carry that on in someway. I don't know, I think
it would. I think there couldbe a desire in the community for something
like that. I would be interestedto be a part of something like that

(11:07):
again. Okay, Yeah, Ididn't think. I didn't think i'd feel
that way after all the anxiety lastyear. But yeah, that's that's kind
of sad actually, all right,any other all right, well, are

(11:30):
you ready to hear this case?Ll do it? All right? And
this is again another first for us. Yeah, today we're diving into a
case of a mass shooting at aWashington University campus. All right, let
me take you back to the afternoonof June fifth, twenty fourteen, in
Seattle, Washington. So multiple callsstarted coming into nine one that there was

(11:56):
at least one male active shooter onthe Seattle Pacific University campus. The calls
were coming from students and staff andthe Otto Miller Building on the campus.
And when police arrive at the scene, they find that the armed man has
already been subdued by a student.The student happened to be a volunteer security

(12:16):
member and there was other staff atthat point. They came in to help.
When the shooters shot gun had misfired, causing the shooter to be distracted.
The volunteer student pepper sprayed him andwas able to disarm him, get
him into chokehold, and you know, police soon arrived afterwards. The aftermath

(12:41):
was devastating. One student was killed, several seriously injured, and the campus
was just turned upside down. Solet's talk about the shooter a little bit.
Twenty six year old Aaron Evara wasa young man with a long history
of mental health issues, drug andalcohol abuse, and thoughts of violence.

(13:05):
Aaron is a middle child, havingan older sister and a younger brother,
and he has, you know,his family life is just not pleasant.
He began having a strong affliction ofOCD at the age of thirteen, and
he didn't understand why he felt soout of control. He had issues with

(13:28):
school. He was not really ableto make much of his studies at either
public or homeschools that he attended.He seemed to always be looking to fit
in, and he seemed to havea good amount of friends that he would
regularly hang out with. His circleof friends had a variety of things to
say about him. Some claimed thathe would help anyone in any way that

(13:50):
he could, that he was alwaystrying to make people laugh, that he
had a great sense of humor,that he was just a really kind person,
and you know the old saying hewould give you the shirt off of
his back. If he needed it. There were a few who were not
surprised at how his life turned out, saying that he was just kind of

(14:13):
out of control, especially with thedrug addiction, alcohol addiction, and he
was filled with violent thoughts and heexpressed them on multiple occasions. Very much
a contradiction between the two. Youknow, some people saying he was just
this great, fun loving guy,and other people saying that they were seriously

(14:35):
concerned because he had a lot ofissues. Yeah. I will say this
right now. If my friends goon TV and say he was such a
nice guy, fuck you, everybodywould know that's not true. I think
that's just what you say about people. I don't know, you know,
it's the old Oh they lit upa room wherever they I didn't light up
a fucking room. No, youdon't know. No, neither one of

(14:58):
us really lied up a room.No. I don't say that shit.
No, No, nobody's fucking lightingup this room. God damn it.
Aaron, his brother, and hisfather all had some issues with dependencies on
drugs and alcohol. Aaron's grandfather,his name was Ambrosia Vara, was a

(15:22):
veteran of the Korean War, andhe would later go on to become the
first Hispanic mayor in Washington. Yeah, there were a lot of expectations that
were placed on the family due tohis political career and Aaron's father, Ambrose
Evara, was the complete opposite ofhis father. He suffered from alcohol abuse,

(15:46):
He had depression issues that would troubleAaron as well. In twenty thirteen,
just one year prior to this shooting, Ambrose would be found by Aaron
having tried to slip his throat andan attempt to commit suicide and that no
matter what else is going on withthis, poor guy. And yeah,

(16:07):
I say poor guy because mental healthissues are are very real, especially when
you are feeling out of control.I don't sympathize with what he did,
but I can have empathy for havingthe mental health issues. You know,
how do you feel when you've comeacross your parent who's trying to harm themselves
in that way and knowing that you'resuffering from you know, you're on a

(16:32):
similar path. And he recognized thathe recognized that he was on a similar
path with his brother and his father. That really, you know, when
you don't have the support to dealwith what you're going through and traumatic events
like that it's it's not helpful.You know, you're not You're not going
to just bounce off of that andjust bounce back to whatever baseline normal would

(16:56):
be for you. There's there's thingsthat happened after that, you know.
There are several police reports of domesticdisturbances involving family members or Aaron. In
twenty ten, Aaron called nine claimingthat he had thoughts of committing suicide and
hurting others. In twenty twelve,there was a report of finding Aaron intoxicated

(17:18):
after driving up on a sidewalk inEdmonds, Washington. His blood alcohol level
was point one eight, which Ibelieve it is like double the label limit,
a little bit more than that.Yeah. In October of the same
year, he was found in themiddle of the street in Mountlake Terrace.
Again he was drunk and he wasclaiming quote he wanted a swat team to

(17:41):
come get him and make him famous. Yeah. There were two attempts to
have him involuntarily committed, But thereare a lot of reports that gives some
conflicting information. Either he refused togo impatient or one of his family members
would claim that he did not needto, so he was not held After

(18:06):
the incident. In twenty twelve,he was again referred for mental health help,
but again he never stayed for impatienttreatment. He claims that his family
ignored signs even after he had theDUI from the event in early twenty twelve,
and he apparently they told him toseek therapy, which his parents helped

(18:30):
him pay for it at first,but he kept drinking while he was seeing
the therapist, so they told himhe would need to start paying for it
on his own. And it justsucks because if they knew he had an
alcohol problem, they got to dealwith that first, right, get him
clean, right, That's just theshitty situation it is, because you know,

(18:52):
it's one thing for you to knowthat you need to go through and
get clean, go through a program, try to get clean. It's another
thing when you know that you've gotfamily members who are doing the same exact
thing and they're not seeking help.So are you going to be supported?
Are you really going to be supported? You know, yeah, it is.

(19:17):
It's just a shitty situation where yourparents are like, we'll help you
if you need to talk to someone, but all you're drinking. Oh never
mind, We're not going to payfor you. Yeah, I mean,
these are his words if that's reallywhat happened. And I'm going to say,
you know, frustrated parents, youknow, and I feel for them,
but yeah, we don't know thewhole situation. I mean, there

(19:41):
in lies the truth somewhere in between, right. You know, the parents
obviously there were some issues there.They were not equipped to. I would
feel, in my opinion, ifyou cannot handle your own issues as parents,
you cannot handle your child's issues,especially given that there's a mental health

(20:03):
aspect that they I mean, Ikind of will go on to that next
to talk about they're not helping himhandle that at all, and there are
multiple family members who have these sameissues. Nobody is seeking treatment, and
nobody it seems that nobody really istrying to seek treatment. Or is it

(20:26):
that it's so normal for them thatit's that they don't think it's wrong.
I kind of think so. Ikind of feel that way. But I
also, you know, the reportsthat like official reports, like police reports,
hospital reports are stating that they aretrying, you know, health workers

(20:48):
are trying to get him to doimpatient stays and either he is not willing
to do it or a family member. There's an article that mentions his mom
said he didn't need to do it, so but then why would you turn
around? And how they expectancy thathe needs to go through to therapy in
patients stay is the best way tojump start therapy. Now, yes,

(21:12):
it sucks because you are you're strippedbear, you don't have privileges. You
are you know, it's almost likebeing detained. You don't really have privileges.
You are expected to participate in aprogram where you're going to be very
uncomfortable, especially if you have achemical dependency. You're not going to be

(21:36):
They're going to be trying to helpyou get off of your chemical dependency while
they're expecting you to go through therapyand deal with your issues. It's very
fast, it's very uncomfortable, andit's very overwhelming, but it is the
quickest way for people to access immediatemental health care sometimes. So you know,

(21:59):
if that's what you want him todo and you're going so far is
willing to pay for it, whywould you? Why would you turn down
the the you know, committing toa program. It it kind of contradicts
I feel like those Yeah, butI do get where people want to do

(22:19):
things on their own terms. Youknow, they maybe they're okay with doing
therapy, maybe that's not their firstchoice to go to therapy, but there
they will not do, you know, inpatient stay. They just won't do
it because it takes too much controlfrom them and they're not ready to do
that. I can see that.I can't see that that point of not

(22:42):
wanting to give up what little controlyou probably feel like you have. And
it's it is scary because everybody hasthis idea of what impatience stay looks like,
and it's it's not happy. Youknow, it's not a happy thing.
So I just think there was alot there, family history, family

(23:02):
problems. There's a lot to tryto navigate, and you know, your
willingness to help get help with thesystem is when it's offered, is key
to stopping that vicious cycle. Kindof Yeah. At age twenty three,
Aaron started having bad what he calledbad feelings, and it manifested as like

(23:26):
hatred towards just towards everybody. Theentire world was just he had this immense
feelings of violence towards everybody. Itkind of kicked off with his parents getting
rid of his familiar bedroom furniture againsthis wishes, and this is something that

(23:48):
he thinks is like part of theOCD where he needed familiar things and they
apparently replaced his bedroom furniture against whathe asked them to do, and he
felt that it was just kind ofthe beginning of him losing control and giving

(24:10):
into these dark thoughts that he had. During this time, he was,
you know, he was seeing thepsychotherapist and they were able to get some
medications started for mental health concerns.So he began taking prozac and risperdal after
being diagnosed with transient psychosis and officiallydiagnosed with OCDS. So he's twenty three

(24:33):
years old. That means he thinksthat he's been dealing with OCD since he
was thirteen ten years and it onlyprogressively gets worse. Aaron began to start
idealizing violence. He kind of honedin on the Columbine shooters, what they

(24:53):
did. He identified with the mastermindsof the shooting, especially Eric Harris.
He repeatedly in the police interview thatI will kind of discuss later on repeatedly
mentions Eric Harris and the Virginia Techshooter. It's it's hyper focus for him

(25:18):
and the things that they thought,their ideology, why their reasons were for
doing what they did. He identifiedwith them and he fixated on them.
He stated that even if he wantedhelp to change this, at this point,
he could not stop what he wasdoing. He claimed that there was

(25:41):
a price to pay, and ifhis routine was interrupted or something was taken
from him, that there was aprice to pay. He had to make
it right by hurting somebody. Okay, yeah, a little weird. Well,
I think there's a lot more toOCD than people think there is,

(26:03):
and I do think that that checksand balances are are a part of that,
and so I do see where thatwould be a thought process for him.
You know, you've done this tome. I need to make it
right somehow. So it's very muchthe you know, what you do to
me, I'm going to return toyou, you know, tit for tap.

(26:26):
I think that's really a big partof OCD that people don't think about,
especially in people who have very severeOCD. He also mentioned that he
felt that quote God had betrayed him. He says that I prayed to him,
but that he didn't help me.So up until the age of twenty

(26:48):
three, he you know had christiana background, like the family had Christian
values, and he tried to livethat way, and that he hit that
age and he no longer wanted tolive that way. He felt abandoned by
God, he felt abandoned by Christianity, and he began to look into like

(27:11):
Satanism other things. As he wasturning more violent and having these violent thoughts,
Aaron stopped taking his medication for aboutsix months, like prior six months
prior to this the incident of thisshooting. He didn't think the medications were
working. I was gonna say,why did it say? Why he stopped?

(27:33):
He didn't feel like they were working, and he just he didn't want
to feel the way he was feelingany longer. He didn't like the way
that he was feeling, and hedidn't think the medication was working. He
didn't think the therapy was working,and he gave up on it. Really
and if you're not supportive, that'svery easy to do. In the days

(27:56):
leading up to the shooting, heplanned and made preparations on which weapons he
was going to use, which universitycampus he would carry out his plan on,
and ultimately just due to the locationof where Seattle Pacific University was it
was close to his house, that'swhat he chose. Two weeks prior to

(28:18):
the shooting, Aaron was given aprivate tour of the campus. He says
by quote unquote manipulating two girls thathe came across while walking around. I
think that's maybe trying to make yourselfsound a little more self important than you
are. If you walk around acampus and you're looking a little loss and
you start asking people, you know, hey, I'm trying to transfer here.

(28:41):
You know, you start talking topeople. It's not manipulation. Yes,
it's a lie, that's not whatyour attent is. But the way
he was saying it was like,oh, you know, I conned these
women. I conned these people intogoing along with me, and they,
you know, they had no ideaof what my plan was. And it's

(29:02):
this huge manipulation, Like he's thismastermind. And I think that's him trying
to put himself in the shoes ofthe people that he's you know, idoling.
You know, it's him trying toput himself on their level. And
really what it was was just himgetting a campus tour like they'll give anybody

(29:26):
who says that they want to transferto that campus. You're going to get
a campus tour. People are goingto be helpful. He gave a story
that he was just this transfer studentfrom a local community college and that he
was scoping out you know, andit's the end of the year. You
know, people are getting ready fortheir finals and things like that, so

(29:48):
it's not unheard of that there aregoing to be people on campus who are
interested to transfer for the next comingsemester. And yeah, it's it's not
masterminding, manipulating, it's just thestory. He decided that he was going
to plan his attack for the weekwhen like finals would be carried out,

(30:12):
because that's still when a lot ofpeople would be there, and that was
the opportune time that he had beforethe end of the season, you know,
the end of the semester. Well, he knew that everybody wouldn't be
there because everybody has to take thetest. It would be the busiest time.
Yep. So he scoped out theOtto Miller Building and you know,

(30:32):
kind of looked around the first floor. He didn't go upstairs, but he
looked around the first floor, madesure he knew where exits were, you
know, where would he park,what would he try to do, you
know what, where how could heexit if he was going to exit that
kind of thing. So complete strategy, game planning what he was going to
do, and when we come backfrom a short break, we'll discuss the

(30:55):
series of events that day. Onthe day of the shooting, Aaron spent
it much like any other. Hewoke up eight, breakfast, kind of
got ready for the day. Ihad a phone call with his brother,
he claimed to discuss nothing important,and his brother had no idea at all
what was planned. He packed whathe thought he would need to carry out

(31:19):
the plan. He disassembled a shotgunand put it in a garbage bag,
then placed that in a backpack.The shotgun, along with three boxes of
rounds and a hunting knife. We'reall together in the backpack. Aaron left
home around two fifteen PM. Hearrived at the SPU campus in his Chevy

(31:41):
truck around three. He parked onthe street and he began to reassemble his
thirty two inch barrel shotgun in histruck. He exited the truck with the
shotgun, the hunting knife, andonly two boxes of the AMMO because that's
all he could carry. So thatwas about fifty rounds, and he said
he really planned on doing a lotof damage that day. When he began

(32:02):
walking to the Otto Miller building,he quickly came across a few people just
standing outside. He approached a nineteenyear old by the name of Paul Lee
and showed him his gun, andwhen Lee, as Aaron claims, when
Lee didn't seem scared by the weapon, Aaron decided to shoot him because he

(32:23):
was being disrespected. Though Lee wasshot in the back of the head at
close range, plots from the shotgunalso hit a person who was standing not
long or not far away. Hisname was Thomas Fowler, and at this
point Aaron's shotgun misfired, so oneof the shells did not ejact, so

(32:47):
he only had one working barrel ofthe shotgun. He tried to shoot at
a female who was with Thomas,but he could not get it to fire,
and so she was able to runaway, so is Thomas. Unfortunately,
Paul does not survive. He isthe one victim who was killed in

(33:12):
this incident. Aaron managed to reloadthe one barrel and he continued inside the
Otto Miller hall, where he founda few people sitting at tables and they
were just reading, you know,studying, And the first person that he
came up to is Tristan Cooper Roth. He was seated at a table.
He had your buds in, Andin surveillance video, it appears that no

(33:37):
one really is just taking notice ofAaron as he comes in, even though
he's carrying this fucking shotgun. Nobodyis like everybody's just kind of, you
know, knows down, not reallyobservant of anything else other than what they're
doing. So he seems to betrying to get the attention of two males

(33:59):
who are seated at different tables.They don't acknowledge him in the video.
It is from what it looks like, they don't acknowledge him. In his
interview with the police, he statesthat he had He tells Tristan that he
just shot somebody outside the building,and he claims, quote, I don't

(34:19):
want to hurt you, and heclaims that he got an acknowledgement, but
the video, I would say,does not reflect that. His attention was
then caught by a student who wascoming down the staircase from the second floor,
so he saw student Sarah Williams.He claims that he tells her I

(34:40):
have a gun, I'm going toshoot. I don't want to hurt you.
Don't make me basically, which againI think is contradictory. You obviously
have no qualms about shooting anybody.You came there with the intention to hurt
everybody. Yes, fifty rounds inyour pocket. Don't lie. So you're

(35:02):
claiming that you just shot somebody outsidethe building. Why are you telling Why
are you claiming to tell people Idon't want to hurt you? What is
the point in that? I feellike it's very conflicting. So apparently in
his statement, Sarah, who wascoming down the stairs, kind of laughed,

(35:22):
laughed it off. I don't knowthat anybody holding a shotgun that you
can see, you're going to belaughing it off when they say I've got
a gun, Like, obviously you'vegot a gun. But again, he
feels like he's being disrespected and nobodyis taking him seriously. These are his
words. Like I said, thesurveillance video, I didn't hear. It

(35:46):
was sound, so I cannot hearif he's talking. I can't hear if
anybody's responding to him. What yousee, though, doesn't really mirror what
he gives in a statement, butthey able to us to hear it in
court. Maybe I don't know becauseit was actually I'll get to it in

(36:06):
a little bit. It was releasedon the news on news media, so
they did not play any sound.I'm not sure if it was played in
court with sound. Yeah. Sohe again, he feels he's being disrespected,
he's not being taken seriously, sohe shoots at the female. He's

(36:28):
in a position where he had wideopen view of everything, so he does
hit her in the ever chest area, but she is not injured to where
she falls. She is. She'sstunned and obviously injured, but she is
able to get away because after thathe has to reload and he's still only

(36:52):
working with one barrel, so TristanCooper Roth also gets away. The other
student was in at a table alsogets away at this time as he's trying
to deal with his shotgun. Soas he's trying to reload, a student
who was volunteer security guard that eveningname John Mee, comes up from behind

(37:16):
and tackles him. He gets himto the ground, the shotgun is kicked
away. Evara begins fumbling for somethingin his waistband, which you can see
eventually is the large knife because atthis point, for his words, he
is thinking this is going to haveto end. So he's going to take

(37:37):
out whoever he can take out,and then he's going to end his own
life. Is what the plan isnow. So miss also kicks away the
knife, he gets it away fromhim, and he holds him down.
He gets him in a chokehold.So Evara is essentially out. He's done.
There's no other weapons for him,and he is not able to fight

(37:59):
back, essentially. So who wasthe guy that tackled him? John mess
Oh me, it's m Ei sOh, I thought you said John Reese.
No like terminator. No, it'sterminator. No, no, the
guy that came back. Oh no, never mind, I don't think that

(38:19):
was his name. Hey, no, Kyle Wasn't Kyle Reese? Yeah that
was I was gonna say. Iyou know, I hate the terminator John
Connor. Yeah, sorry, Okay, yeah, we got it. Okay,
we're getting now. Okay has nothingto do with this, but I'm
glad we could throw in a terminatorreference. Yeah yeah, I mean,
how often do you get to dothat? It's happened a few times.

(38:42):
Challenge except I know Yeah. Atabout three twenty four is when the nine
one dispatchers began receiving phone calls abouta shooter active shooter on the SPU campus,
and one of which is actually TristanCooper Roth, who is you know,
one of the people who was ableto run away and did not get

(39:06):
hit. Yeah, and it's reallyquick the response time. So three twenty
nine is when Seattle Pde started writingat the campus and actually in Otto Miller
Hall, and they are quick tocome in. He said, he is
subdued, he's being held. Atthis point, there's other campus security and

(39:28):
staff that have come to help andmake sure that he is no longer a
threat. Everyone gets transported who needsto be transported, So Paully was still
at that time fighting for his life. Tristan Cooper Rock, Sarah Williams,
and then John Mesee were all transportedto Harborview Medical Center for treatment. You
know, some were more severe thanothers. Unfortunately, Paully was pronounced dead

(39:53):
at arrival at harbor View. SarahWilliams was in critical condition, but after
surgery, you know, stayed stableand did make a full recovery. The
person who was hit with the buckshotor pellet shot. It wasn't even this
is what kills me is It wasn'teven buckshot. It was bird shot.

(40:14):
It was like for clay shooting.That's the AMMO that he brought. So
there were you know, like Isaid, there was the one male who
was hit when Paul was shot withsome of the pellets. So he was
treated at Harborview and was kept overnightfor observation, but made a full recovery

(40:35):
as well. Mee had some abrasionsafter tackling Aaron to the ground, so
he you know, minor but stillfine. The police get him in custody
and they quickly take him back andthey start interviewing him. It's a definitely
it's about an hour and a halflong, about an hour fifteen minutes,

(40:59):
I would say, of an interview, and didn't even what version you watch.
There's a couple all probably linked tothe one where somebody's actually gone through
and edited out, like all ofthe things have been redacted like his home
address and things like that, butthey've also edited out like the quiet times
where there's nobody in the room withhim and he's just sitting. So it's

(41:21):
a little bit easier to watch ifanybody wants to watch it. It's interesting.
So what I didn't mention, andI don't know how it got left
out because I remember typing it.But John Meees was able to pepper spray
him before he tackled him. Sohe's been pepper sprayed and he was easier

(41:43):
to subdue because of it. Soin the interview, he's still, you
know, full on has been peppersprayed and is just going through all the
you know, the snots running everywhere. He can't opened his eyes, he's
coughing, he's just having that reactionthat lasts for a good amount of time
and hours police, you know,start interviewing him. They're questioning him.

(42:08):
He's very cooperative. He's kind ofresigned to the fact that he's been caught,
and he doesn't he doesn't hold backon answering any questions. And they
ask if he knew that, youknow, planning something like this would probably
bring him in contact with the police, and he said again he mentioned that

(42:29):
he had to pay a price sothat he could die. So there was
a cost so that he could dieand end his suffering. He had to
pay a price. He never intendedto be caught, which is why I
think that the statements that he wouldmake up saying I don't intend to hurt
somebody. I don't know why youwould say that to somebody when you don't

(42:51):
you intend to go down in ablaze of glory. Your intent is to
hurt. Well, yeah, thereto kill was right, He had thought
about it may, but he saysthe knife that he brought was supposed to
be used to slit his start ifthings went wrong, which being pepper sprayed
and fighting off somebody. He justhe wasn't able to do that, and

(43:15):
it was wrestled away with him,you know, from him quite easily because
he was so disoriented. There isa copy of the diary that he kept.
He filled it with kind of hisstatement on why what led up to
him to doing this, his plans, and you know, some of the
details that he about what he wantedto do. But it was only a

(43:37):
handful of injuries that started in Mayof that year. So this happened in
June, June fifth, and hisinjuries were in in like mid May,
so not even really a month.And there's only a handful of injuries.
So for somebody who for about threeyears at this point has been, you
know, really putting on a pedestalthese people who have committed mass murder shootings.

(44:02):
YEA, to only have a recordof your thoughts for maybe about four
or five days worth of like journalentries, it seems odd to me if
he had been researching Columbine or theVirginia Tech shootings, like he claims in

(44:22):
his own statements, I would thinkthat he would have put a lot more
documenting together to really have like amanifesto, like a you know, he
intends to die, he says this, he intends to take a lot of
people with him, and his youknow, heroes that he's worshiping are mass

(44:46):
murderers. Did they have manifestos?I mean I think that they did.
Like Virginia Tech, he had,he had like made a video, didn't
he of kind of like you guysmade me do this and this is all
your fault. I vaguely remember thatbecause I remember thinking, you're a fucking
nut job, and you know,nobody asked to come and have you shoot

(45:09):
them like that. It's not anybody'sfault. Like, yeah, obviously mental
health plays a key role in thattoo. I cannot remember if the Columbine
shooters had like documents or manifestos oranything like that. But you know,
when people want recognition and they wantto leave, they want to have a

(45:32):
legacy behind because if you're dead,you're not telling your story. You kind
of do that in a way wherethere's I don't know, I just feel
like there's a lot of these typesof people who have that need to be
heard and understood. They ramble onand on and on a few pages and

(45:52):
entries just seems odd to me,So I don't I don't know if maybe
it makes complete sense. Maybe it'sjust me her being on on detail that
it really isn't important. He doesfreely state that, you know, to
the police that his diary is inthe trunk of his or you know,
in the back of his truck,and they're more than welcome to read it.

(46:12):
He's more than happy to share histhoughts with him, and he mentions
it. He specifically mentions it.The detective that interviews him has not even
has no knowledge of what's in thecar. He's just getting base facts from
him and Aaron, you know,oh I have, by the way,
I have diary. I'm sure you'regoing to read it if you haven't already.

(46:35):
And the detective who's talking to him, and and you know, trying
to just get him settled and getthe ball rolling on things. It's like,
oh, okay, Arry, youknow, where are we going to
find that that's in your car?And he's like, yeah, it's in
my truck and you know, feelfree to read it and get whatever you
need from it. It's it's thatkind of stuff where it's just so contradictory.

(46:59):
You know, maybe he's bipolar,well, I mean the psychosis,
I think place key, but itis that that need of he keeps mentioning
I was disrespected. Nobody, nobodypays attention to me. You know,
I'm misunderstood and there's a need tobe understood. There's a need for somebody

(47:21):
to to see you. Yeah,and and have you know, your your
thoughts and ideas live on beyond you. Total little child, I'm kind of
He, like I said, cooperatescompletely with the detectives and the officials who
interrogate him. There there's multiple waysto watch this on YouTube. There's multiple

(47:44):
people who have uploaded this video,and like I said, there's one that
all link that I watched specifically becauseit cuts out all of the boring,
the boring stuff where he's just sittingthere sniffling, you know, whining about
being pepper sprayed. Basically. Sothere are several charges that are brought against

(48:06):
him, of course, and theywaste no time in arraigning him. He
has arraigned the next day. Hehas charged the next day. Yeah,
some of the court documents that Iread were interesting as well, because his
representation tried to have him plead insanity. Well, I mean they did plead
not guilty by way of insanity.However, you can see in his interview

(48:31):
that he is completely with it.He is not in a fantasy world.
He has details, he's accurately relayingthose details. It's there's no way that
you can say in a moment ofinsanity, I went crazy. This is

(48:52):
premeditated. It's pre planned, andhe carried it out and documented, you
know, even if it's shortly hedied documented that. Yeah. He is
charged, of course, with onecount of first degree murder, two counts
of attempted murder in the first degree, and one count of assault in second
degree. The assault is against thebystandard. Who got you know, the

(49:15):
pellets hit him, that wasn't hisintended target, and again, he pled
not guilty by reason of insanity.Really, I think what it boils down
to is, if you watch theinterview, my issue with him pleading not
guilty by way of insanity is atone point the officer says, thank you
so much for your cooperation, andAaron says, yeah, you know,

(49:38):
I know I'm caught. Essentially,he knows he's caught, he's been had,
there's no getting out of it,and he's going to be as cooperative
as possible and he will tell themanything that they want to know. And
he even does this with the patrolmanwho take him into custody and transport him

(49:58):
to the to jail where he's interviewed. He starts then and they're telling them
why he did this and what hedid just starts seeing him yeah, and
they're not asking yeah. I meanthey're they've just witnessed a scene and they're
having to transport a suspect who hasdone a horrible thing. They're not asking
you what you're done because they knowthat you're going to get into an interview

(50:22):
room with a detective and they're goingto interview you on camera, on tape
and take you know, these factsdown they're not asking for this, but
he volunteers this very, very easily. So the trial begins in September of
twenty sixteen. It does occur overquite a period of time. John Mease

(50:44):
does take the stand and testifies aarony. Vara testifies for himself as well,
and well, do you expect nothingless? No, I mean I didn't
expect anything less, because again it'sI think there is that sense of recognition.
Only people are going to take meseriously, as he keeps saying.
In the end, Ivara was sentencedto one hundred and twelve years in prison,

(51:08):
no possibility of pearl, and hewas aged twenty nine when he was
sentenced. Yeah. When asked ifhe had a statement to make, he
named each of the victims and hesaid, quote, I've realized I've damaged
more than just innocent people. I'vedamaged the community and even the world.

(51:30):
I've heard a lot of people's emotions. I wish I could take that away,
but I can't. I'm sorry tothe world. And you know,
at this point, if he's beenyou know that this was three years after
the incident, he's probably been putback on medication and there's probably some treatment
happening for him. I can seewhere there's you know, he might be

(51:53):
at this point now reconciling what hedid in that mental state compared to where
he's at now, But it stillis very hard to have any sympathy for
him if he is truly sorry,you know, and hearing all that too,
I don't know. Yeah, yeah. The victim who was decease Paulie.

(52:16):
He was only nineteen years old.He had graduated the year prior from
high school. And we were talkingabout it, but that cliche. He
was a ray of light. Thatwas how he was described by one of
his teachers, and it was alsosaid it was impossible to be around him
and not feel happy. He madeclass fund for everyone. His laugh and

(52:40):
smile were both contagious. Everyone whoknew him felt close to him. And
this teacher goes on to say hewill always be remembered for his infectious positive
attitude. I know I will neverforget him. So they did hold a
memorial for him. It was veryhard for the students and his only members
to, you know, to dealwith that, to deal with the loss,

(53:04):
in the grief. There's just nothere's no good reason for anything like
this to happen. You know,it's it's it's tragic, especially somebody who's
nineteen years old. Their whole lifeis ahead of them. It's a horrible
you know, it's it's a horriblething. And there's just there's nothing that
makes it right. Even even himbeing convicted and charged and being in prison,

(53:27):
it does not change what happened.It doesn't doesn't make it better.
There is a I guess a happyend to this that I can give it.
So John Mees was hailed as ahero after this. I mean he
he had no way of knowing thathe was going to be able to subdue
this guy. He had pepper spraycompared to a shotgun in a knife.
Yeah, you know, your youryour odds are not in your favorite necessarily,

(53:54):
but he he did, He really, you know, took a chance
and did what he needed to do. So he is actually, at the
end of this given a medal.So he the city. I am no,
Actually he's given he was honored witha Congressional Medal of Honor. This

(54:17):
happened before the sentencing, so hewas honored March twenty five, twenty fifteen,
so just a year after the shooting, almost a year after the shootings,
and it states that quote he wasselected for a singular act of heroism.
During a violent and deadly shooting spreeat Seattle Pacific University on June fifth,

(54:39):
twenty fourteen, while serving as astudent building monitor and teacher assistant,
John Mees risked his life when hepepper sprayed and stopped the shooter after he
was reloading his shotgun. So ifMees had not acted to protect others,
the casualty could have been much worse. In recognition of his selfless act,

(55:04):
Seattle Pacific University has established a scholarshipin Mace's name. Yeah, So,
I mean, I wouldn't say maybehappy ending is is wrong, but recognition
good recognition for for a very imean definitely heroic, selfless act. Yeah.
And he was also recognized at thesame time as a Vietnam vette was

(55:27):
selected and recognized for the same hewas nominated by the nonprofit Fallen Heroes Project.
So that's that's kind of I mean, to honor to be honored with
a Vietnam Vette is kind of abig deal. So it's it's really I
think, well deserved, you know. Yeah. So that's that is the

(55:51):
story of a local school shooting.I mean, they're they're not. They
don't seem to be going away anytimesoon, unfortunately. Very it's just it's
very unfortunate that it's something that affectsyoung people. I mean, you know,
anybody could be on a college campus, right. Teachers can be older,
students can be older. But someyou know, these things are happening

(56:13):
in high schools and elementary schools thatyou know who that affects. It doesn't
affect that the older community. Theolder community is left to mourn. It
affects these children who are just tryingto get an education. So it's,
yeah, it's unfortunate that it's athing to have to deal with now.
Yeah, that's what I got,thank Yeah. Yeah, and definitely,

(56:38):
you know, everybody that that survivedthat, the family members of Paulie's very
you know, the lifelong issues thatthese people are going to have now is
we definitely you know, you haveour thoughts and it sounds cliche, but
you have our thoughts and prayers becauseit's it's it's very hard to navigate your

(57:01):
life when it's been so drastically changedin this way. You know, any
any family members of victims that's definitelydifficult, and survivors, you know,
survivors guilt. It's it's hard.But yeah, that's all I got.
So don't forget. September first onehundredth episode, we're doing a live what

(57:21):
the fuck. It's going to bespectacular, it's going to be amazing,
it's going to be legend dairy,as Olivia would say, So everybody will
be there. Everybody will be there, yep, yep, the whole game,
Cassmara, Olivia, Bryce and Iand the podcast Poppies. So don't

(57:43):
forget, and we'll sue, youknow, we'll send out some reminders for
things too. So all right,guys, As always, we want to
thank you for listening and supporting us, and will you appreciate all the time
that you've given us over the lastfew years and were so excited to be
in a hundred episodes he so alwaysremember, stay safe and stay out of

(58:07):
the damn woods. Bye guys.By

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Tragedy at Seattle Pacific University