Stephen Gruber-Miller

sgrubermil@dmreg.com

NEVADA, Ia. — Alexander Kozak told police he didn't feel anything when he shot Andrea Farrington in Coral Ridge Mall last June.

"I didn't feel anything after I shot her, I just took off. I didn't feel remorse, I didn't feel good," he said in an audio interview with police after his arrest. The video was played in Story County court on Wednesday during Kozak's first-degree murder trial.

Andrea Farrington, 20, was shot in the back and killed in the mall in Coralville on June 12. Kozak, 23, has pleaded not guilty but has entered a diminished responsibility defense. His lawyers are not disputing he killed Farrington. The two worked at the mall.

In the interview, which was conducted in a police car being driven back to Coralville after Kozak was arrested on Interstate 80 the day of the shooting, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent in charge Rick Rahn spoke with Kozak about why he shot Farrington and how he felt.

Rahn was on the stand testifying Wednesday.

Kozak in the video said he was fully aware of his actions and surroundings at the time of the shooting and calmly recounted to Rahn the steps he went through.

"I was actually terrified about what I was doing. I knew it was wrong and that I shouldn't be there in the first place. But then the feeling that I've felt on and off for the past four months hit me and I didn't care anymore," Kozak said, mentioning that he sometimes has dark thoughts.

He recognized the crime was murder, and at one point seemed to refer to it as premeditated.

"I thought about it, and I carried it out," he said of the shooting.

Later, in a video interview at the Coralville police station, Rahn asked again what Kozak thought premeditated meant.

"It means there was some serious thought to it and it was deliberate," Kozak said, adding that he intended to kill Farrington.

Judge Christopher Bruns clarified to the jury that although Kozak said his actions were deliberate, they would need to follow the legal definitions of certain words when deciding whether to charge him with first-degree murder.

"The use of these terms in the conversation does not necessarily mean that Mr. Kozak acted with premeditation, deliberation or intent," Bruns said.

In explaining his reason for shooting Farrington, Kozak called her "backstabbing" and "bloodsucking" and said he snapped after she called off their texting relationship and said she was interested in someone else.

"I actually almost didn't do this, but the last message pushed me over the edge," Kozak said. Farrington's last message to him said, "Fine. Bye."

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He also said Farrington told him he freaked her out and that she was right to be afraid of him.

Kozak said he thought about shooting other people at the mall, including his boss in the mall security office, Saiprasong Insisiengmay, and co-worker Wendy Robbins, but they weren't there that day.

"They really don't understand a lot of things, and they're very weak-minded. For lack of a better word, stupid," he said of his co-workers in the video.

After the shooting, Kozak told Rahn that he got in his car and drove away on I-80. He said once he got in the car he listened to a song by Five Finger Death Punch but later threw his phone out of the window because he was worried police could track him.

Throughout the interview, Kozak remained calm and was helpful to officers, answering their questions and even giving directions to the trooper driving him to the Coralville police station. Rahn asked him why he was so calm, and Kozak said he didn't know but that he wasn't one to break down crying.

Asked later about how he felt about what he did, Kozak said he was "a little remorseful."

Later on Wednesday, jurors began hearing from defense witnesses, including Farrington's sister, Cassie, and Farrington's boyfriend, Connor Sirovy, who said he knew about Kozak but thought he was just a friend from work.

Sirovy testified that Farrington said she felt like she was being watched when she left work and was creeped out when Kozak left a note on her car.

He was called as a defense witness by Kozak's lawyer, Alfredo Parrish. In response to Parrish's questioning, Sirovy said he and Farrington had gone through a rough patch and agreed to take a break for financial reasons, but he did not view it as a breakup.

"It was a break. It was time to get back on our feet in order for us to restart in the future and continue where we left off," he said. Farrington had been planning to move home to her mother's house before the shooting.

Kozak's mother, Cyndy McComas, spoke about his childhood in Grandbury, Texas, and Osage, Iowa, and recalled a few incidents where he lost his temper over minor matters. She said she worried about how frustrated he was with work at the mall and was thinking about having him move back to her home in Texas.

Reach Stephen Gruber-Miller at 319-887-5407 or sgrubermil@press-citizen.com. Follow him at @sgrubermiller.