Kozak pleads not guilty in fatal Coral Ridge Mall shooting

IOWA CITY - The North Liberty man accused of fatally shooting a Cedar Rapids woman at the Coral Ridge Mall last month has pleaded not guilty.

Alexander Kozak's attorney, Peter Persaud, said Thursday that his client has entered a not guilty plea to the charge of first-degree murder, a Class A felony punishable by an automatic life sentence. An arraignment for Kozak, 22, had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Kozak is accused of gunning down 20-year-old Andrea Farrington at the Coral Ridge Mall on June 12. He is accused of shooting the woman three times in the back at close range. Authorities have said Kozak - a mall security guard who resigned from his post just before the shooting - targeted Farrington, an Iowa Children's Museum employee, though the specifics of why he sought her out have not been made public.

Authorities have said Kozak left the mall the afternoon of June 12, went back to his North Liberty condo and retrieved his 9 mm Glock handgun. He then returned to the mall and shot Farrington, who was staffing the mall information desk near the food court.

The shooting prompted the mall to go into lockdown and police flooded the mall and surrounding parking lots.

Kozak fled the mall after the shooting and was later found on Interstate 80 in Scott County. He was taken into custody, charged with first-degree murder and remains in custody on a $10 million cash bond.

The date of the trial has not yet been set. The trial information lists 53 witnesses, including police, the Johnson County Medical Examiner and Farrington's mother and boyfriend.