Police officer tried to aid SPU student shot in June

SEATTLE – A police officer responding to the chaotic scene of a shooting at Seattle Pacific University tried to help a mortally wounded victim breathe as other officers frantically searched the campus for any other possible assailants.

More than 300 pages of police reports on the June 5 shooting describe a frantic scene as officers tried to assist victims who lay bleeding as well as find the gunman. The reports, obtained by KOMO-TV, give a detailed look at the shooting that left one student dead and two others wounded.

One officer detailed his efforts to aid the victim who died, 19-year-old SPU student Paul Lee. In a statement, the officer said that when he arrived, Lee was lying on the sidewalk with “severe gunshot trauma to his upper left throat area.”

“During this time it was not known how many shooters or victims there were. The scene was one of chaos and confusion,” the officer said.

Aaron Rey Ybarra is accused of fatally shooting Lee and wounding two others. A student building monitor stopped Ybarra by pepper-spraying and tackling him as he reloaded his shotgun, authorities said.

In the police reports, officers said Ybarra told them he had not been sure if he “had been dreaming this incident or if it had been real.”