South Haven shooter felt 'nothing except content and acceptance' before pier shooting
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — The man who police say randomly shot a couple before shooting and killing himself on the South Haven Pier last month dropped off a backpack to coworkers containing journals with a possible suicide note hours before the deadly shooting, according to newly obtained investigative documents into the Aug. 20 shooting.
Aidan Ingalls was 19-years-old when he opened fire on South Haven's South Beach Pier, shooting and killing Chuck Skuza, 73, and wounding his wife Barbara Skuza, 72, police said.
Investigative reports showed on the day of the shooting, Ingalls dropped off a backpack where he worked at the Big Boy Restaurant on 73rd Street. Inside the backpack were two journals.
I don't feel anxious, nervous, excited, happy or sad. I feel absolutely nothing except content and acceptance,
Ingalls wrote in one journal entry on the day of the shooting, police said.
Ingalls also went on to write he loved his family, "even my mother - no matter what, I would still love you,” he wrote.
The backpack also contained three photo albums and 10 envelopes containing cash marked for Big Boy employees and family members totaling $1,379, according to the police report.
The manager of the Big Boy restaurant told police Ingalls came into the restaurant briefly after dropping off the backpack and told him he needed to go to Walmart and then, the report said Ingalls left the restaurant.
- Prosecution: Van Buren County officials question earlier prosecution of South Haven shooter
Officers were en route to the shooting scene after the manager called police to tell them about the backpack and apparent suicide note, the report said.
Days after the shooting, officers searched Ingalls' grandfather's home where he was living at the time, according to police.
Investigators said they found a video recording Ingalls made of what he declared as his last will and testament. In the video, Ingalls was seen loading two handguns, including one used in the shooting.
Investigators also found books and documents about serial killers and suicide notes of various celebrities and historical figures in his bedroom.
Ingalls was arrested when he was 15-years-old for planning an attack at Paw Paw High School in 2018. He was charged as a juvenile and completed his court supervision one month before the shooting on the pier. Investigators also found documents and a thumb drive of news coverage related to the 2018 case.
- Paw Paw: Police confirm South Haven pier shooter plotted failed school shooting in 2018
Officers found a black 9 mm handgun with swastikas and other white supremacist markings on the weapon found laying next to Ingalls' body after the pier shooting. Ingalls threw a pellet gun into the river before killing himself, police said.
The investigative documents also detail witness accounts of the shooting.
One witness who told police she witnessed the shooting, said she saw Aidan Ingalls walk up from behind on Chuck Skuza, 73, and Barbara Skuza, 71, who were holding hands at the end of the pier near the lighthouse.
Barbara Skuza asked Ingalls, " What are you doing?" before Ingalls shot her and then her husband. He later died at the hospital, police said.
Barbara Skuza was rushed to the hospital and was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital several days later.
One of Ingalls' shots hit a nearby jet ski driver, who was not injured. Another person on the beach said a bullet flew past her head and hit the sand next to her.
A different witness told police Ingalls turned his gun toward her as she grabbed her 7-year-old daughter and laid on the ground as he fired a shot.
"A round had skipped over the ground where her and her daughter had lain," according to the police report.