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Shooting Spree Suspect Says He 'Kills For God' In Courtroom Outburst

Posted: 12:21 pm PDT September 5, 2008Updated: 3:11 pm PDT September 8, 2008

The suspect in a shooting and stabbing spree that killed six people and wounded four cried out, "I kill for God. I listen to God," twice during an outburst in court this afternoon, said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter George Howell, who watched the proceedings.

Isaac Zamora, 28, was making a court appearance on charges of six counts of first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree assault in connection with the crime spree that began near Alger, continued amid a high-speed police pursuit on Interstate 5 and ended in Mount Vernon, when Zamora pulled into the parking lot of a sheriff's office.

The charges were filed in District Court, giving prosecutors 30 days to hold Zamora in jail before moving the case to Superior Court, Howell said. Zamora is being held on what's known as a magistrates warrant. It gives investigators more time to process evidence from the eight crime scenes and gives prosecutors more time to decide exactly how to charge him.

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. Zamora was not required to enter a plea during the hearing. He will later be formally charged in county Superior Court.

A hearing has been set for Oct. 3.

Zamora has a history of mental troubles and was suicidal after violating a no-contact order, according to court documents obtained by KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

In 2003, Zamora nearly destroyed an apartment he and a woman shared in Bellingham, according to the court documents.

The woman obtained a no-contact order that Zamora violated twice by showing up at her apartment, according to the documents.

The second time, Zamora told a Bellingham police officer he was "just preparing to go to the hospital for a mental evaluation." He was feeling very "unstable," he told the officer, and needed to speak to someone before he killed himself.

During the ride to the hospital, Zamora told the officer, "Just shoot me. I want to end it all. Why keep going when it's useless? I want to hurt myself but I'm not crazy."

On Thursday, a line of hearses bore the bodies of five victims of the shooting rampage as onlookers watched from the sidewalk and wiped away tears.

The bodies were transported to the Snohomish County medical examiner's office in Everett, considered better equipped to handle the multiple autopsies. An autopsy was previously performed here on a sixth victim, Leroy Lange, of Methow.

The dead included a 30-year grocery store checker, a man who enjoyed Sunday-night ballroom-dancing and a Skagit County sheriff's deputy killed in the line of duty.

Skagit County Deputy Coroner Bob Clark identified the dead as:

--Skagit County sheriff's Deputy Anne Jackson, 40

--Chester M. Rose, 58, shot at the same location as Jackson near Alger

--Two construction workers who were found shot nearby, David Thomas Radcliffe, 57, and Gregory Neil Gillum, 38, both of Mount Vernon

--Julie A. Binschus, 48, of Sedro-Woolley, found a few houses away

--Lange, a motorist who was shot and killed along the freeway.

Binschus was a 30-year employee at the Sedro-Woolley Food Pavilion.

Rose, a construction contractor, was a regular at the local tavern's weekly ballroom dancing nights.

Four other people, including a state trooper, suffered gunshot wounds or stab wounds.

Memorials to the victims have been placed throughout the town of Alger, including one outside the Skagit County Sheriff's Office where Jackson worked. So many flowers have been left there that the Red Apple Grocery Store across the street has run out of them, said reporter Deborah Horne.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled at 8 p.m. Friday at Alger Community Church.

The public memorial service for Skagit County Deputy Anne Jackson, who was killed in the shootings, is scheduled for next Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Burlington-Edison High School. The school's address is 301 N. Burlington Blvd. in Burlington.

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