SPU shooting suspect had ties to MLT, ESD

By Nick Fiorillo, Editor-in-Chief|June 6, 2014

Updated: June 6, 3:12 p.m.

Local officials confirmed today that the suspect in yesterday’s shooting at SPU had ties to Mountlake Terrace and the Edmonds School District.

Aaron Ybarra, 26, was arrested under suspicion of homicide and is being held at King County jail without bail. He is a current resident of Mountlake Terrace.

However, Edmonds School District (ESD) Spokesperson DJ Jakala said Ybarra was not an ESD graduate.

“Aaron Ybarra last attended in 2006 the formerly-called Cyberschool. He withdrew that year and did not receive an Edmonds School District diploma. The current program’s community is deeply saddened by the news of what occurred at SPU yesterday,” Jakala said in an official statement.

“While it was 8 years ago that Ybarra attended the program under its old name, the current staff and families are asking for privacy during this difficult time. We ask that you respect their request. We extend our sympathies to the SPU community and all impacted by this tragedy,” she said.

Principal Greg Schwab said Ybarra attended Maplewood Parent Cooperative school before transferring to Edmonds Heights K-12, as part of the homeschool learning resource center.

Schwab confirmed that Ybarra’s older sister was a 2003 MTHS graduate .

About the Writer

Nick Fiorillo, Editor-in-Chief

Nick Fiorillo is the Editor-in-Chief of the Hawkeye and thehawkeye.org. This is Nick's second year of serving as editor. Last year, he led the Hawkeye in one of the organization's most dramatic transformations in decades, replacing the broadsheet newspaper with a feature based newsmagazine and an emphasis on online content.

Prior to serving as editor-in-chief, Nick was the local news editor during his sophomore year and was a staff reporter during his freshman year.

Nick was named as the 2014 Free Spirit Scholar from Washington state, and traveled to Washington, D.C. as the Washington state delegate to the 2014 Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference. He has received several state and national awards for journalism, including several JEA National Write-off Competition Awards. He was recently awarded the rating of "Superior" for Editorial Writing at the Spring 2014 JEA/NSPA High School Journalism Conference in San Diego, Calif.

His interests include journalism, politics, public policy, law and education. He plans on attending a four-year university and majoring in political science and social policy.

You can view his pressfolio here.

Twitter: @nick_fiorillo

LinkedIn: Nick Fiorillo