Jaylen Fryberg, identified as the shooter in Friday’s rampage at a Washington State high school, was apparently a well-liked, popular student, who was recently voted freshman homecoming prince.
However, recent social media posts may lead investigators to the darker side of the youth, who killed one other student, shot at least four others, and eventually took his own life.
The Tulalip Bay, Washington youth’s posts seem to reveal a head-over-heels-in-love teenager who apparently grew more and more upset and desperate when the relationship fell apart.
“I can’t believe I just witnessed a shooting,” Austin Joyner, a student at the school, said on Twitter. “Kid came into the cafeteria and walked over to a table and pulled out the gun and shot 4-6 shots at students sitting down.”
Kobe Baumann, 14, told the paper that he was with Fryberg in his Marysville-Pilchuck High School English class shortly before the shooting, and that he appeared to be kind of nervous, according to the Seattle Times.
“He sits right up in the front,” Baumann said. “He got called on, but he just kept his head down and didn’t really say anything.”
Latest: Marysville, Washington high school gunman identified as Jaylen Fryberg http://t.co/XgfwSgFOQT pic.twitter.com/caf7MUrPef
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) October 24, 2014
Police: Wash. school shooter Jaylen Fryberg died of self-inflicted gunshot wound: http://t.co/993hRexHM2 pic.twitter.com/y7PufU3WjT
— WAAY-31 First News (@WAAYTV) October 24, 2014
Fryberg’s social media accounts depict a teen with a passion for sports, music, hunting, family and his Native-American culture.
Many of Fryberg’s social posts are about the girl with whom he was smitten.
“@frybergj: Girl You My Angel. Your My Darling Angel closer than my peeps you are to me, baaaaby
— … (@maryjanesbae) October 25, 2014
Suga How You Get So Fly
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) June 20, 2014
But, later in June, something has clearly happened in the relationship and the posts become negative, full of expletives. Fryberg seems to threaten something sinister in August.
Your gonna piss me off… And then some shits gonna go down and I don't think you'll like it…
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) August 20, 2014
Jarron Webb, 15, confirmed to the Seattle Times that the shooter was angry at a girl who would not date him.
Your not gonna like what happens next
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) August 20, 2014
Tell me what your plan is….
You can't make a bond with anyone like the bond me and you have right now…. Tell me what your going to do…
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) August 20, 2014
I hate that I can't live without you
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) August 21, 2014
Sick Of This Shit
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) August 23, 2014
It breaks me… It actually does… I know it seems like I'm sweating it off… But I'm not.. And I never will be able to…
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) October 21, 2014
I should have listened…. You were right… The whole time you were right…
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) October 21, 2014
If I just laid down….
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) October 21, 2014
He sent his final tweet on Thursday, the day before the shooting.
It won't last…. It'll never last….
— Jaylen Fryberg (@frybergj) October 23, 2014
Many took to social media in the aftermath to share their grief over the incident.
“Over a girl he was heartbroken and didn’t know what to do,” tweeted a 16-year-old, who said she was a cousin of the shooter. “Jaylen wasn’t a bad kid he just made a mistake.”