Massive investigation into rampage under way
Email | Print Marta Murvosh | Skagit Valley Herald
September 03, 2008 - 07:56 PM

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Scott Terrell

A motorcycle procession of Skagit and Snohomish sheriff’s deputies arrives at Mount Vernon Police headquarters this morning as the investigation into a deadly shooting spree continues today. Late this afternoon, the procession escorted the fallen deputy's body to a funeral home in Mount Vernon.

* Updated *

MOUNT VERNON -- A massive 15-agency investigation continued this morning as law enforcement officials sought to unravel the details of a shooting and stabbing spree that killed six people and injured four more Tuesday afternoon.

Among the dead were Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy Ann Jackson, who was shot when she went to an Alger home to investigate reports of a disturbance. The identities of the other victims had not been released by officials as of this morning. Reports Tuesday indicated that there were two injured survivors, but information later revealed two more injured victims, including one man who was stabbed.

That 61-year-old man suffered two stab wounds to the chest. He was treated and released from Skagit Valley Hospital. Also, a 56-year-old man, the husband of one slain victims, was injured. Investigators haven’t determined at what location he was wounded, nor released the nature of his injuries. He was being treated this morning at St. Joseph's Hospital in Bellingham, and investigators didn’t have his condition.

The suspect, 28-year-old Isaac Zamora of Alger, was finally subdued in the parking lot of the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office after a high-speed chase that began in Alger and continued south on Interstate 5.

The Snohomish Multiple Agency Response Team, consisting of 15 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, has assumed direction of the investigation, which now involves at least seven different crime scenes, said Sgt. Robert Goetz, public information officer for the response team.

Goetz, an Everett police officer serving with the multiple agency group, said that Zamora will be charged Wednesday afternoon with two counts of first-degree attempted murder. He explained that those charges are only the beginning and others, presumably murder, will be added as the multi-faceted investigation continues.

“I think what’s important for all of us to understand is it’s not a typical day for anyone everywhere,” Goetz said at a press conference at the Skagit County Administration offices this morning. “It’s not a typical day for law enforcement; it’s not a typical day for the neighbors; it’s not a typical day for us in the Northwest.”

Meanwhile, law officers have sealed off the entrance to Silver Creek Drive, in Alger, the neighborhood where all but one of the slayings occurred. Only residents were allowed to enter the area.

“As you know, this is turning out to be an extensive task for our investigative team, multiple scenes, multiple victims and multiple families we are trying to help today,” Goetz said.

The investigation, described as “complex and difficult” by Goetz, focused on seven addresses, five on Silver Creek Drive and two on nearby Bridle Drive. It was at one of the Bridle Drive homes, where the bodies of Deputy Jackson and a male victim were found.

Three other slaying victims were found at two other locations on Silver Creek Drive.

A sixth victim, presumably shot during the pursuit of Zamora on I-5, was a motorist who happened to be driving south when he was fatally struck by a bullet, officers said.

Dennise Zamora, the suspect’s mother, said Tuesday that her son was severely mentally ill but that she and his father had been unsuccessful in attempts to get him help. She said that the family was unable to have her son involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation and that he had refused to seek help himself.

“We’ve got to change the laws,” Dennise Zamora said. “While we’re protecting (mentally ill) people’s civil rights, these guys, like my son, are living like animals.”






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