Marysville school shooter Jaylen Fryberg sent a friend a photo of himself with a gun between his legs minutes before he opened fire on fellow students he lured to his lunch table with texts, according to a police affidavit. "Call me before I do this," the 15-year-old wrote in the Facebook message. The weapon appears to be the .40-caliber Beretta that Fryberg used to shoot five pals — killing four of them — before he committed suicide in the Oct. 24 rampage at a high school outside Seattle, police said.
The court documents reveal that texts from Fryberg — a freshman who had just been crowned the school's homecoming prince — took a dark turn about a week before the shootings after some kind of problem with a close female friend. "Ohk (sic) well don't bother coming to my funeral," he texted the 15-year-old girl on Oct. 18. Four days later, he sent several other ominous messages: "I set the date. Hopefully you regret not talking to me," "You have no idea what I'm talking about. But you will," and "Bang bang I'm dead.”
The girl stopped responding, so he finally sent an intermediary the picture of the gun, according to the affidavit, which was first obtained by the Everett Daily Herald. Minutes later, Fryberg killed three 14-year-old girls — Gia Soriano, Zoe Galasso and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit — and a 15-year-old cousin, Andrew Fryberg, 15. Another boy, Nate Hatch, 14, was shot in the face but survived.
After the killings, police interviewed the suspect's uncle, who said he and 13 other relatives had just received a text with a chilling message: “My Funeral (expletive)" that described in detail who should get his belongings and what he wanted to wear in his casket.
IN-DEPTH
- Teachers Plead for Help in Marysville HS Shooting 911 Calls
- 'I Have to Forgive': Mom of Marysville Victim
- Shooter Lured Victims to Lunch Table With Texts
— Tracy Connor