Seattle-area high school shooter texted victims to meet him for fatal lunch

(Image credit: David Ryder/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Jaylen Fryberg, the popular freshman who shot five people then himself at Marysville-Pilchuck High School on Oct. 24, texted his three close friends and two cousins to meet him for lunch before shooting them, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said Monday. Fryberg killed two 14-year-old girls — Zoe Galasso and Gia Soriano — and critically wounded Shaylee Chuckulnaskit and cousins Andrew Fryberg and Nate Hatch.

Police aren't sure how Jaylen Fryberg got ahold of the .40 caliber Berretta handgun he used in the crime, though it was legally purchased by a relative. And there is still no known motive, though Fryberg was reportedly upset about a girl and had posted mopey things on Twitter recently. Unusually in school shootings, people in the community are publicly mourning for Jaylen as well as his victims, The Associated Press notes.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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