Aaron Rey Ybarra, 26, was reportedly obsessed with mass shootings. (@NormGregory/Twitter)

The man accused of opening fire at Seattle Pacific University on Thursday, killing one person and injuring several others, was reportedly obsessed with similar mass shootings and exhibited patterns of violent mental illness.

SEE ALSO: Student Thwarts Gunman At Seattle Pacific University

26-year-old Aaron Rey Ybarra was involuntarily committed in both 2010 and 2012 after run-ins with law enforcement, according to the Seattle Times. Ybarra called 911 back in 2010, saying he "wanted to hurt himself and others." In 2012, police officers found Ybarra in the middle of a street encouraging law enforcement to execute him, and wanted a SWAT team to do it in the hopes of making him famous.

Ybarra was involuntarily committed at Swedish Medical Center after both occasions, and was being treated for "depressing, mental-health issues, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder" by the end of December 2013.

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A law-enforcement source also told the Seattle Times that Ybarra had a "fascination with mass shootings," especially the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Ybarra, who is not a student at Seattle Pacific University, chose the college campus simply because "he was hellbent on killing a lot of people."

Ybarra's rampage was thwarted by the heroics of volunteer security guard John Meis, who has become a social media sensation after he doused Ybarra with pepper spray and restrained the gunman — saving countless lives in the process.

You can read more at Reuters and the Inquisitr.

Reach Editor-in-Chief Will Federman here. And follow him on Twitter.