Arlington gunfire victim, 78, was Marine who led simple life

ARLINGTON — A lifelong Granite Falls resident who served as a U.S. Marine was shot to death Saturday while waiting for a dialysis appointment in north Snohomish County, according to his family.

The shooter was at large on Wednesday. Arlington detectives were searching for a dark 2013 or 2014 Range Rover Sport.

Ivan Maik, 78, stopped at a Marysville bank to withdraw cash from an ATM before dawn Saturday. Security cameras showed a Range Rover followed him north, until he parked near the front of the Puget Sound Kidney Centers in the 18800 block of Smokey Point Boulevard, according to Arlington police.

Maik was early for his appointment. It was still dark. Two employees walked out of the building around 5:35 a.m. They noticed someone crouched by a vehicle in the west end of the parking lot, according to police. Then the person opened the driver’s door and shot Maik in the head, police said.

The shooter opened fire on the two witnesses, police said.

They retreated to the building. Nobody else was hit. The attacker jumped into the Range Rover and sped south along Smokey Point Boulevard. The fleeing Range Rover was caught on a security camera. Police released images of it Wednesday.

The shooter was of unknown gender or race, slender, roughly 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9, and wore a hooded jacket and all dark clothes, and possibly a dark mask.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office released Maik’s identity. An autopsy confirmed the death was homicide.

The Marysville Police Department, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol are assisting in the investigation.

Maik’s family has been left with many questions.

“Why? How? What?” said his daughter, Lisa, who asked not to be identified by her full name. “Who’s even up at 5:45 on a Saturday morning, let alone to shoot an old man?”

Maik was born Aug. 11, 1942, in Arlington, before the city had much of a hospital. He led a very simple and humble life, his daughter said.

“He didn’t need anything,” she said. “He didn’t want anything.”

Yearbook photos show Maik played running back for the Granite Falls High School football team in the late 1950s. He enlisted in the Marines in February 1964 and served as a combat engineer in the Vietnam War. He trained at Marine Corps Base Lejeune in North Carolina, where contaminated water has been linked to cancers and renal problems for many veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. His daughter said Veterans Affairs has acknowledged it was “highly likely” Maik’s time there caused kidney issues that plagued him for the rest of his life. His dialysis treatments for Stage 5 kidney disease began about two years ago.

As a civilian, Maik worked as a logger, a seasonal worker for the U.S. Forest Service and a contractor for the U.S. Postal Service. The Forest Service deployed him to operate a forklift in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, his daughter said.

He hunted, fished and often explored the woods.

“I have a picture of him when he was 10 years old in his overalls,” his daughter said, “and I have a picture of him when he was 78 years old in his overalls.”

Maik spent summers with family at a riverside cabin off the Mountain Loop Highway.

“He loved nature, the animals, the hummingbirds,” his daughter said. “He loved Washington state. He knew every back road and every logging road.”

Maik also loved to take road trips and vacation with family in the Southwest, where they attended NASCAR races, visited Lake Havasu and Lake Tahoe, and watched the Seattle Mariners in spring training. He was slowing down but still sharp mentally.

Maik’s partner of five decades, Robin Desrosier, 75, died about six months ago. Last year a trip to the emergency room revealed a spot on her lung. Many elective scans and scopes were paused due to the pandemic, however, so by the time her lungs got a closer examination, she had a growth about the size of an orange, their daughter said. At the hospital, Maik could only speak with his partner over the phone. They talked a couple of times every day. She died about three weeks later, on Oct. 6.

Maik had plans for the future. His family just bought him a car, a 2021 Toyota RAV4, with a U.S. Marine license plate frame. He hoped to visit friends this week east of the Cascade Range.

“I just sit here and cry and make phone calls and cancel his doctor appointments,” his daughter Lisa said. “Knowing somebody shortened his life is just unbelievable.”

Tips can be directed to Arlington police. The lead detective on the case is Mike Phillips. Call 425-407-3999, or dial 911.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.