The Scottsdale man accused of shooting up the Great Alaskan Bush Company strip club last month faces a slew of felony charges, including two that could earn the 28-year-old a date with the executioner's needle.
The indictment against Gavin Macfarlane, first reported on by the Associated Press, charges him with two counts of first-degree murder, as well as three counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault for the bizarre December 26, rampage that left two people dead.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, Macfarlane sat at the club as a patron prior to going berserk and shooting the place up.
Witnesses told police there was no incident that would have prompted
Macfarlane to become enraged. Rather, it seems, he just went off the
deep end.
After being taken into custody, Macfarlane told police he had planned
the shooting. He says he was at the club for a while before he "reached a
point where he made the decision to go out to the parking lot and
obtain a weapon from his vehicle."
He told police his plan was to shoot the first people with whom he came in contact -- which he did.
When Macfarlane went back into the club he immediately shot the bouncer,
Adam Troy Cooley, 34, and a patron, 20-year-old Antonio Garcia, who
were standing near the door. Both Cooley and Garcia died as a result of
the injuries caused by Macfarlane.
Two other patrons were also shot, although, they survived the attack.
Macfarlane entered the club and shot at another unidentified woman, but
missed. He then tried to shoot another male patron but was out of
bullets -- so he hit the man in the head with the gun before being subdued by
staff members.
Macfarlane told cops that if he hadn't run out of ammo he would have continued to shoot people.
Prosecutors could seek the death penalty if he's convicted of first-degree murder -- although, don't be shocked if Macfarlane's lawyers try to convince a jury he's nuts.
