MARYSVILLE – Jaylen Fryberg arranged to meet with friends at lunch hour Friday before shooting them, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenery said today.
That was one of the findings of the Snohomish Multi-Agency Response Team, highly skilled detectives from many law enforcement agencies countywide who work together on complex investigations, the sheriff says in a briefing.
The SMART investigation at Marysville Pilchuck High School says that witnesses confirm that the five victims were at a cafeteria 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 Fryberg.
“We are still working to determine exactly how the shooter obtained the weapon prior to Friday’s shooting,” Trenery’s briefing says.
The sheriff goes on to say that the investigation will continue for months, and the responsibility of law enforcement is to work on behalf of the victims to 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.”
Trenery said he would like to see the community focus on healing.
“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,” he said.
Additionally, detectives have confirmed that the first-year teacher attributed with confronting the shooter did not have physical contact with the shooter during the incident.
The next steps of the investigation involve gathering and reviewing hundreds witness statements, continuing to conduct in-person interviews, gathering evidence, tracking down additional witnesses and compiling a comprehensive report.
