MOUNT VERNON — Six charges of first-degree murder and four charges of first-degree assault were filed Friday against Isaac Zamora in this week’s shooting rampage in Skagit County.
Zamora, 28, appeared in Skagit County District Court as investigators wrapped up their work at eight crime scenes.
Zamora uttered his first words in a court proceeding since being arrested after the Tuesday rampage. “I kill for God. I listen to God,” he said twice during the brief proceeding.
He is being held on $5 million bail in the wake of a shooting rampage that left six dead and four injured.
District Court Judge Warren Gilbert read each charge and the penalties, which carry a sentence of up to life in prison. That doesn’t mean the death penalty is off the table, according to the Skagit County prosecutor.
“Do you talk about it? Sure you talk about it,” prosecutor Rich Weyrich told the Skagit Valley Herald. “Where it goes, it’s way too early to decide that.”
Zamora was not required to enter a plea Friday during the hearing. The charges filed in District Court allow him to be held in custody for 30 days. He will later be formally charged in county Superior Court.
A hearing has been set for Oct. 3.
The affidavit for probable cause, which explains the charges, remains sealed for 10 more days while the investigation continues. The affidavit contains details in support of the charges.
The attacks began Tuesday afternoon about 20 miles north of Mount Vernon near the tiny town of Alger, 50 miles north of Everett, and culminated in a high-speed police pursuit on I-5 that ended in Mount Vernon, when Zamora surrendered at the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office.
Among the dead was a Skagit County sheriff’s deputy who had gone to check on Zamora.
Zamora, who has a long record of run-ins with the law, had been admitted several times to hospitals for mental health treatment and attempted suicide several times, his friends and family said.
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