Bothell shooting earns man 5-year sentence and the threat of more prison

Published 12:01 am Thursday, March 10, 2011

EVERETT — A Redmond man received a stern warning to stay away from his estranged wife and her family after he serves five years in prison for shooting into her Bothell house last year.

“If you violate the protection order, you will be sent back to prison for a long, long time,” Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Anita Farris said Wednesday. “If you try to contact them in any way, I will personally be throwing you back.”

Ilya Novikov, 30, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree assault, unlawful gun possession and violating a no-contact order while armed with a gun.

Prosecutors alleged that Novikov showed up at his estranged wife’s home on Aug. 10 armed with a 9 mm Glock handgun. He fired five shots into the front door. The woman was home with her infant daughter, her relatives and their 9-month-old child when the gunfire broke out.

No one was hit.

The three bullets fired into the house hit a staircase that the woman’s brother in-law was using at the time of the shooting, detectives determined.

The woman’s brother in-law told police that he heard knocking at the front door. He looked out a window and saw Novikov standing on the porch, court papers said.

He yelled for other family members to call 911 and turned to run up the stairs to the second floor. That’s when he heard gunfire.

Novikov was arrested in Pierce County. He had a handgun and ammunition in his pocket.

A judge in 2009 ordered Novikov to stay away from his wife. He also was ordered not to have any firearms.

His estranged wife and the other people who were in the house told Farris that they feared for their lives that morning and remain concerned for their safety.

Novikov apologized for the shooting before he was sentenced on Wednesday.

He told the judge that he had intended to kill himself in the house with hopes that his spirit could remain there so he could be close to his wife and their daughter.

His attorney Paul Thompson told the judge that his office’s social worker has worked at length with Novikov to try to get at what motivated the shooting.

“There’s still a question mark why this happened,” Thompson said.

The judge ordered Novikov to undergo a mental health evaluation as well as a screening for a substance abuse problem. He also was ordered to stay away from the victims for a decade, the maximum under the law.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.