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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Charges filed in shooting spree

Six murder counts in Sept. 2 rampage

By MANUEL VALDES Associated Press

SEATTLE – Skagit County prosecutors filed aggravated murder charges Monday in Superior Court against Isaac Zamora, the 28-year-old man accused of killing six people in a Sept. 2 shooting rampage near the small northwest Washington town of Alger.

A sheriff’s deputy was among those killed.

Zamora faces six counts of aggravated first-degree murder, a crime punishable in Washington state by either death or life in prison without parole. Skagit County Prosecutor Richard Weyrich has 30 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

The shootings claimed the lives of Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy Anne Jackson, two Alger-area residents, two construction workers and a motorist on Interstate 5.

Six counts of attempted first-degree murder were also filed in the cases of four people wounded by gunshots or stabbing, as well as a couple who escaped injury when a bullet shattered two windows of their vehicle as they drove on Interstate 5. In all, prosecutors filed 20 charges, including weapons and burglary counts.

Zamora was also charged earlier this month in District Court. His only comment during that appearance was to twice declare: “I kill for God. I listen to God.”

His public defender, Keith Tyne, said at that time, “Clearly there are significant mental health issues at play.” A phone message left for Tyne after business hours Monday was not immediately returned.

The shooting spree shocked the small town of Alger, located about 70 miles north of Seattle. Most of the shootings took place in an isolated neighborhood; prosecutors allege Zamora then headed south on I-5, firing as he went.

Zamora was also charged with the theft of a rifle and a handgun. Investigators said earlier the rifle used in the shootings had been stolen from a residence near Zamora’s mother’s home.

According to court documents, the events on Sept. 2 began with a 911 call from Dennise Zamora, Isaac Zamora’s mother, who called police because she was afraid her son was breaking into neighbor’s houses and might get shot doing so. Dennise Zamora said her son has struggled for years with serious mental illness.

Jackson, who had responded to a call about Isaac Zamora the day before in the same neighborhood, and Deputy Terry Eskew went to Dennise Zamora’s house, according to an affidavit filed by Snohomish County sheriff’s Detective Patrick VanderWeyst earlier this month.

Eskew looked for Zamora, but then left the scene, Weyrich said Monday. Jackson continued to a neighbor’s house near where Zamora had been seen.

Jackson was later found dead at that residence. Alger residents Chester Rose, 58, and Julie Binschus, 48, and two construction workers – 58-year-old David Radcliffe, of Clear Lake, and 38-year-old Greg Gillum , of Mount Vernon – were killed in the neighborhood as well.

Fred Binschus, Julie’s husband, was shot and wounded.

Neighborhood resident Richard Treston was stabbed in the chest.

The prosecutor alleges that Zamora left the neighborhood in a stolen truck and headed toward I-5, shooting and wounding motorcyclist Ben Mercado and later fatally shooting 64-year-old Leroy Lange, of Methow, who was driving on the interstate.