Zamora charged in Skagit County shootings

Zamora is accused of killing five people, including Skagit County sheriff's deputy Anne Jackson, and injuring two others in his Alger neighborhood Tuesday. He is also accused of killing another man and wounding two others as he drove from Alger to Mount Vernon, where he surrendered to authorities.

Skagit County Deputy Coroner Bob Clark has identified the dead as:

• Jackson, 40;

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

• David Thomas Radcliffe, 57, of Clear Lake and Gregory Neil Gillum, 38, both of Mount Vernon; the two construction workers were found shot nearby.

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

• Leroy Lange of Methow, a motorist who was shot and killed along the freeway.

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

District Court Judge Warren Gilbert read each charge and the penalties, which carry a sentence of up to life in prison. Skagit County prosecutors said that does not preclude them from seeking the death penalty.

"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."

Bail remained set at $5 million.

Zamora was not required to enter a plea Friday, as he will be formally charged later in Superior Court. The charges filed Friday allow Zamora to be held in custody for 30 days.

The next hearing in the case was set for Oct. 3.

The affidavit for probable cause, which explains all of the charges, remains sealed for 10 days while the investigation continues. The affidavit contains details in support of the charges.

Dozens of investigators, including some from the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, worked to process eight crime scenes in and around Alger, a town of fewer than 100 people.

A vigil for the six victims is planned for Friday night and organizers expect as many as 5,000 people will attend a memorial service Tuesday in honor of fallen Skagit County Deputy Anne Jackson.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to attend, along with law enforcement officials from across the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, said Erica Work, public information officer for the Deputy Anne Jackson Memorial Planning Team.

The service will take place at the Burlington-Edison High School football field, believed to be the largest such venue in Skagit County, at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Jackson's family asks that donations be made to one of several charities: the U.S. Pony Club, Concerns of Police Survivors, the 10-99 Foundation, the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation or the Skagit Valley Humane Society.

Neighbors remembered Zamora as a boy who struggled through adolescence and was later diagnosed with serious mental illness and showed disturbing signs of violence.

Zamora had been admitted several times to hospitals for mental health treatment and attempted suicide several times, his friends and family said.

After the family's home burned down when he was 14, a doctor diagnosed him as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder but said his problems would likely subside after puberty, his mother, Dennise Zamora, told The Seattle Times.

But in the past five years, Zamora has been in and out of courtrooms, accused of malicious mischief, drug possession and theft, and was last released from jail about a month ago after serving six months for cocaine possession.

Zamora's record includes about 50 court cases in Washington state, the Skagit Valley Herald reported. Most were misdemeanors ranging from driving on a suspended license to possession of marijuana, but eight cases were felonies, including three before he turned 18.

In 2007, he was convicted of malicious mischief for throwing a cement block at a neighbor's car.

"Isaac Zamora was mad because I didn't go hiking with him, he has anger and mental health issues," the neighbor, Steven Schnur, wrote in court records.

Ex-girlfriend Connie Hickman, who met Zamora in 2000 when they both worked at a health care facility, told The Seattle Times that he had a lot of promise, but signs of trouble kept recurring. Hickman said his growing volatility eventually led her to take out protection orders and leave the state, and that she has had no contact with him for about three years.

He made threats and started fights over "things that never happened," Hickman said. She initially blamed his drinking and drug use, but then he was diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and told her at one point he was hearing voices.

In 2003, Hickman and Dennise Zamora took him to St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham, saying they feared for their safety. He was held involuntarily for a few weeks of treatment and then released.

"The night after he was released, he called me and said, 'I want to go back,'" she recalled. But when he showed up again at the hospital, it declined to admit him. The reason why is unclear, but state rules concerning uninsured treatment for mental illness can be difficult to negotiate for patients and their families.

Eventually, he was admitted to another hospital. During that stay, court records show he bit an orderly who was trying to restrain him. Criminal charges were filed, but later dropped.

"The next day, they discharged him," Hickman said. "How could they put him out on the streets when it was obvious the man had some issues?"

She said he was given a prescription for medicine but didn’t take it because he didn't have a job and couldn't pay for it.

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