SEATTLE — Will Kramer, who was shot at a party Saturday night in Mukilteo where three others were killed, can’t fathom why a friend and former Kamiak High School classmate would unleash such violence.
Kramer, 18, had been in classes with Allen Christopher Ivanov, the injured teen’s father told reporters Tuesday at news conference in Seattle. Ivanov, 19, is charged with trying to kill Kramer and aggravated murder and assault in the shootings.
“That’s one of the things that’s really hard for Will and his circle of friends to understand,” Paul Kramer said.
“He’s shocked. He can’t believe or comprehend it. He’s lost some very dear friends … That has scarred him.”
Jordan Ebner, Jake Long and Anna Bui, all 19, died Saturday.
Paul Kramer said he is “aching with grief” for their parents.
He believes his son’s athletic ability helped him survive. Will Kramer, 18, played played baseball and soccer in high school.
The teen was sitting in a chair and saw Jake Long stand up. “I think he heard or saw someone — the shooter — and went over to investigate and was shot,” Kramer said.
“Will saw Jake go down.” Then Will was shot in the back.
Kramer said his son dove into the grass, keeping low to make his way to some bushes. He dialed 911, but didn’t talk, afraid that the shooter might hear him.
“He listened,” Kramer said. “He heard the screaming. He heard the shooting,”
After police and paramedics arrived, Will Kramer was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He was treated for damage the bullet made when it tore from behind into his chest. The bullet fragmented as it hit his shoulder blade, said Dr. Hugh Foy, director of the hospital’s surgical specialties center.
“His survival depended on where he got shot,” said Foy, who joined Paul Kramer at the news conference. “His shoulder blade probably protected him from more serious injury.”
Will Kramer’s condition was upgraded Tuesday to satisfactory, and he was moved out of the hospital’s intensive care unit. He’s expected to remain in the hospital up to five more days.
“He’s itching to get out of there,” Paul Kramer said. “He wants to reconnect with friends. I think that’s really important for him and all of them to move toward healing.”
Paul Kramer said he has “profound gratitude” to the first responders from Mukilteo and Snohomish County as well as Harborview staff. They saved his son’s life.
“All indications are he will fully recover from his physical wounds,” Kramer said.
His son and others who witnessed the attack still will “need help to heal the wounds to the psyche and heart,” he said.
Will Kramer, an incoming sophomore at the University of Washington, is interested in pursuing studies in environmental sciences. He had been working this summer as a traffic flagger on construction sites.
Paul Kramer said he believes that additional gun control measures need to be taken.
Military-style weapons, such as the one allegedly used in Saturday’s shootings, “we don’t need in civilian hands,” he said.
He also said he thinks there were clues, perhaps “even cries for help” from Ivanov before the shootings.
“I would hope that we as a society can think about finding ways to train our young people to watch for clues on social media that might be alarming, and teach them appropriate ways to respond,” he said.
In some cases that might be simply asking: Are you OK? In others it might mean notifying authorities, Kramer said.
“I think we’d like to do all we can to try to prevent something like that from happening again,” he said.
Sharon Salyer:425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
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