Kozak tells police he “didn’t feel anything” when he shot Andrea Farrington

NEVADA, Iowa - Alexander Kozak said he 'squeezed off” three shots at Andrea Farrington as she worked inside the Coral Ridge Mall because she dumped him.

He said she never saw him coming, dressed in black and carrying a Glock 9 mm.

'I knew it would be easy,” he said in a video interview with investigators, which was played Wednesday during his murder trial. 'I walked in and shot her and then when everyone was running out, I was going out another way.”

He thought about shooting his mall security supervisors, too, he said, but they were off that day.

As the prosecution wrapped up presenting its case Wednesday, it called Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Rick Rahn to the stand. Rahn interviewed Kozak shortly after the former mall security guard was arrested along Interstate 80 not long after the June 12, 2015 fatal shooting.

The agent said Kozak was coherent, calm and - without much hesitation - offered up details that proved to be true - more so than Rahn said he had ever seen in his career.

Kozak even provided directions, unprompted, to Rahn and another investigator as they drove him to the Coralville Police Department.

Kozak, 23, of North Liberty, is charged with first-degree murder. According to testimony, Kozak shot Farrington, 20, three times in the back as she worked at the mall's welcome center for the Iowa Children's Museum. The defense argues Kozak has a mental condition and should be convicted of a lesser charge.

In the recorded interview, Kozak said bluntly the killing was 'premeditated murder.” He said he understood that to mean it was deliberate.

He complained that he was through 'being strung around” by her, although Kozak said they never had a sexual relationship.

Instead, they exchanged text messages and talked at the mall. Farrington even called that off in text. She told him there was someone else, which he said he thought funny because there had always been someone else - her boyfriend. And Kozak was married.

'At the moment, I didn't feel anything after I shot her,” Kozak told Rahn. 'I didn't feel remorse or anything. I didn't analyze the situation.”

Kozak said he didn't know why he had to kill her. He couldn't explain it.

'I feel stupid about it (now),” Kozak said during the interview. 'She was right to be afraid of me.”

Toward the end of the interview, before being told he was being charged with first-degree murder, Kozak said he was 'a little remorseful.”

Defense attorney Alfredo Parrish aggressively questioned Rahn's investigation, pointing out that he didn't confirm all the information Kozak told him. He didn't confirm if Farrington was stringing him along, or if Kozak 'snapped.”

Rahn said he wouldn't know how to confirm such things. But Parrish also complained that investigators also didn't check text messages to see if Farrington had written she loved him.

Parrish started presenting the defense's case by calling Cassie Farrington, Andrea's sister, and Connor Sirovy, Andrea's boyfriend.

Cassie testified she knew her sister was talking to a married man and she cautioned Andrea because she knew her sister was vulnerable to attention after undergoing major jaw reconstruction surgery that changed her appearance.

She said her sister had talked of breaking up with Sirovy. Cassie said she told her that if she wanted to she should, but then should not get together with a married man - Kozak.

Sirovy, of Cedar Rapids, said he knew about Andrea's and Kozak's 'friendship.” He said he and Andrea had a mutual breakup that was mainly about finances.

They were living together but each decided to move back with their parents to save money, although he said they planned to get back together later.

Sirovy said Andrea Farrington was afraid of Kozak. She thought she was being watched - which is why she became scared after finding a note that Kozak had left on her car outside the mall.

Kozak's mother, Cyndy McComas of Grandbury, Texas, testified she had concerns over the years about her son's temper. At age 15 or 16, he was accused of showing off a pocket knife at school and she was 'shocked” at how angry he became.

McComas said she became concerned again in 2014 when Kozak became frustrated with his job as a security guard at the mall and would communicate only through texts.

The trial continues Thursday in Story County, where it was moved due to pretrial publicity.