Gunman targeted cousins, friends
A cafeteria worker tried to intervene in high school attack
A high school cafeteria worker tried to stop a gunman who killed one girl and shot four other students before taking his own life inside the cafeteria at a school north of Seattle, officials said Saturday.
Government officials identified the gunman in Friday’s shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School as Jaylen Fryberg, a wellliked freshman and homecoming prince.
Snohomish County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said in a statement Saturday morning that the on-scene investigation at the high school was finished. A .40-caliber handgun was recovered, which authorities believe was the weapon used in the shooting, Ireton said.
Detectives confirmed a cafeteria worker attempted to intervene in the attack, but Ireton provided no other details about the worker’s actions.
It does not appear that it was a random shooting. Two of the victims —15-year-old Andrew Fryberg and 14-year-old Nate Hatch — are his cousins, relatives said. Two other girls — Shaylee Chucklenaskit and Gia Soriano, both 14 — were wounded.
Nate Hatch’s grandfather, Don Hatch, told KOMO-TV that his grandson was close friends with the other victims in the shooting, as well as Jaylen Fryberg. The group had recently attended prom together, he added.
“Only God knows what escalated this. Only God knows. Nobody pushed a button with bullying. It’s just something that happened, and we don’t know why,” Hatch said.
Chucklenaskit and Soriano remained in critical condition Saturday. Andrew Fryberg is also in critical condition, and Hatch is in serious condition.
Erick Cervantes, a student at the school who witnessed the shootings, told KIRO-TV that teacher Megan Silberberger confronted Fryberg before he shot himself. Officials did not identify her as the cafeteria worker who tried to intervene in the shooting.
“I believe she’s actually the real hero. She’s the one that intercepted him with the gun. He tried either reloading or tried aiming at her. She tried moving his hand away and he tried shooting and shot himself in the neck,” Cervantes told the TV station.
He said the gunshots followed a verbal altercation.
“It started off with an argument, but then I looked back and there was just gunshots and just people falling down,” Cervantes recalled. And immediately after the gunshots, the (woman) intervened, he said.
“She heard the gunshots first and she came in running through the door, right next to it,” he recalled.