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Rampage mirrors threats made on YouTube video
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20140524/college-community-shooting-e578ccbe44.html
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, MARTHA MENDOZA and JULIE WATSON
GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — The gunman fired for 10 minutes from his BMW as he made his way down streets filled with university students walking, biking and skateboarding in the beach community near Santa Barbara, picking off people one by one in a deadly rampage that chillingly mirrored threats made on a YouTube video posted that same night. Seven people were killed in all, including the gunman.
A Hollywood director believes his son was the lone gunman found dead behind the wheel of the BMW that crashed into a parked car, ending the shootings Friday night in the beach neighborhood of Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara, the family's lawyer said Saturday. Seven others remained hospitalized with serious injuries.
Authorities were not naming the shooter yet but said they had identified him. Investigators were analyzing a YouTube video in which a young man sits in a car and looks at the camera, laughing often, and says he is going to take his revenge against humanity.
"It's obviously the work of a madman," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.
Alan Shifman — a lawyer who represents Peter Rodger, one of the assistant directors on "The Hunger Games" — issued a statement on behalf of the family saying they believe Rodger's son, Elliot Rodger, was the shooter.
"The Rodger family offers their deepest compassion and sympathy to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain, and our hearts go out to everybody involved," Shifman said.
The shootings started around 9:30 p.m. in Isla Vista, a roughly half-square-mile community next to UC Santa Barbara's campus and picturesque beachside cliffs.
Alexander Mattera, 23, said his friend Chris Johnson was walking out of an improv comedy show when he was shot in front of a popular pizza place. He stumbled into a nearby house.
"He walked into these random guys' house bleeding," he said.
Mattera was sitting at a bonfire with friends when at least one gunshot whizzed overhead. The friends ran for cover when they heard the barrage of gunfire.
"We heard so many gunshots. It was unbelievable. I thought they were firecrackers. There had to have been at least like two guns. There were a lot of shots," he said.
The gunman got into two gun battles before crashing his black BMW into a parked car. It wasn't immediately clear whether he was killed by gunfire or if he committed suicide. A semi-automatic handgun was recovered.
Describing the shootings as "premeditated mass murder," Brown said a YouTube video posted Friday that shows a young man describing plans to shoot women appears to be connected to the attack.
He describes loneliness and frustration because "girls have never been attracted to me," and says, at age 22, he is still a virgin. The video, which is almost seven minutes long, appears scripted. The identity of the person in the video could not be independently confirmed.
Shifman, the attorney for the Rodger family, said the family called police several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that Rodger's son, Elliot Rodger, had been posting.
Police interviewed Elliot Rodger and found him to be a "perfectly polite, kind and wonderful human," he added. Police did not find a history of guns, but did say Rodger "didn't have a lot of friends," had trouble making friends and didn't have any girlfriends.
Isla Vista, which is centered on university life with outdoor cafes, bike shops, burger joints, sororities and fraternities blocks from the beach, was shrouded in fog and unusually quiet Saturday.
Police tape crisscrossed Isla Vista streets, while blood was still visible on the asphalt Saturday. Bullet holes could be seen in the window of the IV Deli Mark and a parked car. The wrecked BMW driven by the shooter remained on the street, its windshield smashed in and its driver's door wide open.
Tyler Martin, a UCSB freshman from Danville, California, was visiting his injured friend at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where the seven victims were being treated.
He said two friends were riding longboards near his home about 9:30 p.m. when a car suddenly came up from behind and ran over one and clipped the other. Martin ran outside to help and tended to his most injured friend.
"As I was leaning over and trying to comfort him — he was in a lot of pain, obviously — I heard pop, pop, pop," Martin said.
The friend who was run over suffered leg injuries and was in surgery Saturday. The other friend was not seriously hurt.
In a statement, the university said several students were shot and taken to the hospital and it was "shocked and saddened" by the tragedy.
"This is almost the kind of event that's impossible to prevent and almost impossible to predict," UC President Janet Napolitano told reporters after giving the commencement speech at Laney College in Oakland, California.
Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown offered his condolences to the victims' families, saying he was saddened to learn "of this senseless tragedy."
The family is not ready to speak publicly yet, but wants to cooperate fully with police, public agencies and "any other person who feels that they need to help prevent these situations from ever occurring again," Shifman said.
"My client's mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from ever happening again," he said. "This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses."
Shifman said the family is "staunchly against guns" and supports gun-control laws. "They are extremely, extremely upset that anybody was hurt under these circumstances," he said.
Isla Vista has a reputation for excessive partying. Last month, an annual spring bash spiraled into violence as young people clashed with police and tossed rocks and bottles. A university police officer and four deputies were injured and 130 people were arrested.
The community has experienced other tragedies in the past.
In 2001, the son of "Ally McBeal" TV director Daniel Attias ran down four pedestrians with his car on a crowded Isla Vista street. Witnesses testified that part-time college student David Attias got of the car and shouted: "I am the angel of death."
David Attias was ruled insane after he was convicted of second-degree murder and is locked up in a state mental hospital.
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, MARTHA MENDOZA and JULIE WATSON
GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — The gunman fired for 10 minutes from his BMW as he made his way down streets filled with university students walking, biking and skateboarding in the beach community near Santa Barbara, picking off people one by one in a deadly rampage that chillingly mirrored threats made on a YouTube video posted that same night. Seven people were killed in all, including the gunman.
A Hollywood director believes his son was the lone gunman found dead behind the wheel of the BMW that crashed into a parked car, ending the shootings Friday night in the beach neighborhood of Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara, the family's lawyer said Saturday. Seven others remained hospitalized with serious injuries.
Authorities were not naming the shooter yet but said they had identified him. Investigators were analyzing a YouTube video in which a young man sits in a car and looks at the camera, laughing often, and says he is going to take his revenge against humanity.
"It's obviously the work of a madman," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.
Alan Shifman — a lawyer who represents Peter Rodger, one of the assistant directors on "The Hunger Games" — issued a statement on behalf of the family saying they believe Rodger's son, Elliot Rodger, was the shooter.
"The Rodger family offers their deepest compassion and sympathy to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain, and our hearts go out to everybody involved," Shifman said.
The shootings started around 9:30 p.m. in Isla Vista, a roughly half-square-mile community next to UC Santa Barbara's campus and picturesque beachside cliffs.
Alexander Mattera, 23, said his friend Chris Johnson was walking out of an improv comedy show when he was shot in front of a popular pizza place. He stumbled into a nearby house.
"He walked into these random guys' house bleeding," he said.
Mattera was sitting at a bonfire with friends when at least one gunshot whizzed overhead. The friends ran for cover when they heard the barrage of gunfire.
"We heard so many gunshots. It was unbelievable. I thought they were firecrackers. There had to have been at least like two guns. There were a lot of shots," he said.
The gunman got into two gun battles before crashing his black BMW into a parked car. It wasn't immediately clear whether he was killed by gunfire or if he committed suicide. A semi-automatic handgun was recovered.
Describing the shootings as "premeditated mass murder," Brown said a YouTube video posted Friday that shows a young man describing plans to shoot women appears to be connected to the attack.
He describes loneliness and frustration because "girls have never been attracted to me," and says, at age 22, he is still a virgin. The video, which is almost seven minutes long, appears scripted. The identity of the person in the video could not be independently confirmed.
Shifman, the attorney for the Rodger family, said the family called police several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that Rodger's son, Elliot Rodger, had been posting.
Police interviewed Elliot Rodger and found him to be a "perfectly polite, kind and wonderful human," he added. Police did not find a history of guns, but did say Rodger "didn't have a lot of friends," had trouble making friends and didn't have any girlfriends.
Isla Vista, which is centered on university life with outdoor cafes, bike shops, burger joints, sororities and fraternities blocks from the beach, was shrouded in fog and unusually quiet Saturday.
Police tape crisscrossed Isla Vista streets, while blood was still visible on the asphalt Saturday. Bullet holes could be seen in the window of the IV Deli Mark and a parked car. The wrecked BMW driven by the shooter remained on the street, its windshield smashed in and its driver's door wide open.
Tyler Martin, a UCSB freshman from Danville, California, was visiting his injured friend at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where the seven victims were being treated.
He said two friends were riding longboards near his home about 9:30 p.m. when a car suddenly came up from behind and ran over one and clipped the other. Martin ran outside to help and tended to his most injured friend.
"As I was leaning over and trying to comfort him — he was in a lot of pain, obviously — I heard pop, pop, pop," Martin said.
The friend who was run over suffered leg injuries and was in surgery Saturday. The other friend was not seriously hurt.
In a statement, the university said several students were shot and taken to the hospital and it was "shocked and saddened" by the tragedy.
"This is almost the kind of event that's impossible to prevent and almost impossible to predict," UC President Janet Napolitano told reporters after giving the commencement speech at Laney College in Oakland, California.
Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown offered his condolences to the victims' families, saying he was saddened to learn "of this senseless tragedy."
The family is not ready to speak publicly yet, but wants to cooperate fully with police, public agencies and "any other person who feels that they need to help prevent these situations from ever occurring again," Shifman said.
"My client's mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from ever happening again," he said. "This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses."
Shifman said the family is "staunchly against guns" and supports gun-control laws. "They are extremely, extremely upset that anybody was hurt under these circumstances," he said.
Isla Vista has a reputation for excessive partying. Last month, an annual spring bash spiraled into violence as young people clashed with police and tossed rocks and bottles. A university police officer and four deputies were injured and 130 people were arrested.
The community has experienced other tragedies in the past.
In 2001, the son of "Ally McBeal" TV director Daniel Attias ran down four pedestrians with his car on a crowded Isla Vista street. Witnesses testified that part-time college student David Attias got of the car and shouted: "I am the angel of death."
David Attias was ruled insane after he was convicted of second-degree murder and is locked up in a state mental hospital.
Evidently the guy hung out on internet sites about mysogany, hatred of women. Evidently, he had done things in the past like throw coffee on a couple because they were a reminder of what he didnt have. I heard he had aspergers syndrome.Once reported but only once, so is it true? Who knows. Sounds like he was really messed up. Details of his so called manifesto, shows one sick puppy. Yet it was so easy for him to get hold of a gun. Not to say its all the gun, as he tried to run people over and stabbed a few as well. I happen to think we have a whole generation of em out there just waiting to snap. I think it all started back when they took the right to raise your children and told you how you could raise them. No structure anymore, no responsibility, and no consequences. Add to that the entitlement attitude that this guy seemed to have, along with a gun and we got major problems.
Is the gun responsible? I never said that, but it is irresponsible of us as a society I think to not look at the whole thing. I see nothing wrong with background checks in getting guns and I sure dont think its good that our police officers cannot ask if they have a permit to carry. It is not the guns that scare me. It is the mentality of those that wear them like a badge of honor or something, liquid courage, Im packin heat so dont mess with me. And again, where were all the good guys with all those guns? I always heard that you fight bad guys with guns, with good guys with guns?
I also think we need to quit giving excuses or special treatment due to mental illness, as imo all those that kill someone is off. I dont know how many more people are going to die before we figure it out. Im 61 years old and never ever thought I would live to see this America.
Is the gun responsible? I never said that, but it is irresponsible of us as a society I think to not look at the whole thing. I see nothing wrong with background checks in getting guns and I sure dont think its good that our police officers cannot ask if they have a permit to carry. It is not the guns that scare me. It is the mentality of those that wear them like a badge of honor or something, liquid courage, Im packin heat so dont mess with me. And again, where were all the good guys with all those guns? I always heard that you fight bad guys with guns, with good guys with guns?
I also think we need to quit giving excuses or special treatment due to mental illness, as imo all those that kill someone is off. I dont know how many more people are going to die before we figure it out. Im 61 years old and never ever thought I would live to see this America.
"....where were all the good guys with all those guns? " Well, this is California we are talking about. Not exactly the easiest place on the globe for a well intentioned, law abiding individual to go get a permit to carry legally. And I think this is directly indicative of how many civilians really do carry. No civilian went Rambo here and I think that too is indicative of the quality of the majority of law abiding citizens that do carry. They've trained, they know and understand the laws, and they know that if they do discharge their weapon that you don't get the bullet back.
http://www.gunsandammo.com/2012/01/24/waffle-house-customer-shoots-and-kills-armed-robber/
The above is a pretty good article that touches on the aspects of a civilian "taking out a bad guy".
The above is a pretty good article that touches on the aspects of a civilian "taking out a bad guy".
Something was definitely missing in this guy's life and it wasn't the fact that women weren't attracted to him.
It's easy to blame the parents but without knowing more about the man~ it's all conjecture.
I do believe there is some blame to be made on our societies values which is not an excuse for this horribly sad situation.
Teko makes some valid points about children being raised without structure, without being told 'no'. They aren't prepared for the real world when it isn't catering to them the way their parents do.
Kids need to learn limits and self discipline. They need to learn that not getting everything they want, isn't the end of the world. I see these types of kids all the time and yes, they don't go around killing masses of people but they do seem to be making a mess of their lives.
It's easy to blame the parents but without knowing more about the man~ it's all conjecture.
I do believe there is some blame to be made on our societies values which is not an excuse for this horribly sad situation.
Teko makes some valid points about children being raised without structure, without being told 'no'. They aren't prepared for the real world when it isn't catering to them the way their parents do.
Kids need to learn limits and self discipline. They need to learn that not getting everything they want, isn't the end of the world. I see these types of kids all the time and yes, they don't go around killing masses of people but they do seem to be making a mess of their lives.
From what I've read, his parent were vary active in trying to get this guy some help.
I found this article interesting.
http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=230
I found this article interesting.
http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=230
Once the crime has been committed by that
point it is too late. I would be in favor of
any law that would require preventive intervention.
Right now a law that is being debated
in Congress would require this:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/politics/gun-policy-recap/
In general I would say I am opposed to required
mental health treatment but in some situations
I can see why it is necessary, especially
if it would prevent even one further incident
such as this.
point it is too late. I would be in favor of
any law that would require preventive intervention.
Right now a law that is being debated
in Congress would require this:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/politics/gun-policy-recap/
In general I would say I am opposed to required
mental health treatment but in some situations
I can see why it is necessary, especially
if it would prevent even one further incident
such as this.
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