Witness: Alexander Kozak ‘very angry’ on day of fatal Coral Ridge Mall shooting

NEVADA, Iowa - A worker at the Coral Ridge Mall who saw Alexander Kozak daily testified Monday he was 'very angry” the day he is accused of fatally shooting Andrea Farrington inside the mall, telling the worker repeatedly that he 'couldn't take it anymore.”

Deana Brown, 25, of Waterloo, who worked in the mall's housekeeping department, said during Kozak's first-degree murder trial that he told her he had been reprimanded for threatening to use pepper spray on some teens causing trouble.

Brown said she tried to calm him down, but Kozak remained upset that Friday, June 12, 2015.

Later, Brown testified, another security guard was looking for Kozak and when she went with him to the office, they discovered Kozak had left his badge and hat there and was gone.

According to testimony last week, Kozak, 23, shot Farrington, 20, three times in the back that evening as she worked at the Coralville mall's welcome center for the Iowa Children's Museum.

The defense doesn't dispute he shot her, but argues he has a mental condition and should be convicted of a lesser charge.

Kozak's defense has said the former guard and Farrington had exchanged thousands of text messages and had been in some sort of relationship. Still, witnesses for the prosecution Monday said Farrington had complained to security about him twice in the weeks leading up to the shooting.

In her testimony, Brown said Kozak usually seemed to her 'laid back, easy to get along with” and she considered him a friend.

Alfredo Parrish, Kozak's defense attorney, asked if Brown knew Kozak and Farrington had a relationship or if she knew about the thousands of text messages they had exchanged.

Brown said she didn't.

Wendy Robbins, 40, a security supervisor, testified she recommended Kozak for a promotion to supervisor in January 2015. With that promotion, she said, Kozak became a peer of hers and she was not his supervisor.

Even so, she eventually sent up the chain of command complaints that Farrington had made to her about Kozak. Robbins said that she and Farrington had become friends.

In April, Farrington complained about a note Kozak had left on her car, Robbins said. He wanted to take her to a concert in Kansas City that Robbins and Farrington had talked about attending.

Farrington said it 'creeped her out” that he knew what car she drove.

Robbins reported the incident to Kozak's supervisor, and also told Kozak he should stay away from her.

Then on June 2, Robbins said she got a text from Farrington saying Kozak was at the welcome center and that he told Farrington he wanted to be friends again.

Robbins also reported this to Kozak's supervisor.

Robbins testified that she didn't know that Kozak and Farrington had exchanged thousands of text messages. When Farrington talked about pursuing a relationship with Kozak, Robbins said, she told her friend that Kozak was married.

Parrish repeatedly asked Robbins why she didn't tell investigators she had planned to attend that same Kansas City concert with Farrington. Robbins said she didn't think it was important.

Johnston County Attorney Janet Lyness asked Robbins if she was jealous of Kozak, as 'Parrish seems to be implying.”

'No,” Robbins said.

Saiprasong Insisiengmay, security director at the mall and Kozak's supervisor at the time, testified Kozak started at the mall in October 2014 and there hadn't been concerns about his performance leading up to his promotion.

Insisiengmay said he talked to Kozak about the pepper spray incident and the two times Farrington had complained to Robbins.

He said Kozak was a 'little frustrated” over a reprimand on the pepper spray incident.

Insisiengmay said he also told Kozak to stay away from Farrington. He said he didn't know they had exchanged texts but even if he had, he wouldn't have handled the situation differently.

A criminalist with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations testified the spent shell casings found after the shooting matched test firings from the Glock 9 mm handgun belonging to Kozak.

An analysis showed Farrington had been shot from 3 to 6 feet away, criminalist Victor Murillo testified.

When the gun was found in a trash bin outside the mall, he said, the magazine was loaded and a bullet was in the chamber. But three rounds were missing.

The prosecution continues its case 9 a.m. Tuesday in Story County District Court. The trial was moved there from Johnson County due to pretrial publicity.