A gunman went on a drive-by shooting rampage in a Santa Barbara student enclave and at least seven people were killed, including the attacker, authorities said.
Investigators believe a 22-year-old named Elliot Rodger driving a black BMW acted alone in the shootings around 9:30pm Friday night near the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown confirmed at a news conference early Saturday that that seven people were killed, including the gunman, and seven wounded.
Lone gunman: 22-year-old Elliot Rodger went on a shooting spree, killing six people and injuring seven before dying of a gunshot wound to the head
‘Retribution’: Elliot Rodger posted a video to social media in which he outlines his plan for ‘retribution’ for being rejected by women
Brown said the suspect exchanged gunfire with deputies and then drove off and crashed into a parked car.
‘We have obtained and are currently analyzing both written and videotaped evidence that suggests this atrocity was a premeditated mass murder,’ Brown said.
Rodger is thought to be the son of Peter Rodger, assistant director of the Hollywood film franchise The Hunger Games.
Authorities are examining a video posted on social media by the shooter in which he rants about women who supposedly rejected his advances.
The video is called ‘Elliot Rodger’s Retribution.’
Rodger, a Santa Barbara City College Student and Isla Vista resident, according to his social media accounts unleashed a tirade about his ‘loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires,’ and blames women for preferring ‘obnoxious brutes’ to him, ‘the supreme gentlemen.’
Dystopian fantasy: It’s believed Rodger is the son of Peter Rodger, assistant director for The Hunger Games, about an annual televised death match. He is seen here at the film’s 2012 premiere (left)
Privileged: Rodger seen here in his BMW, the number plates of which match the vehicle from which he shot and killed six people
College community horror: A body is covered on the ground after a mass shooting near the campus of the University of Santa Barbara in Isla Vista, California, Friday, May 23
Chase: Rodger crashed his BMW after he was pursued by police
‘I’m 22 years old and I’m still a virgin. I’ve never even kissed a girl,’ he says in the video.
‘College is the time when everyone experiences those things such as sex and fun and pleasure. But in those years I’ve had to rot in loneliness. It’s not fair. You girls have never been attracted to me. I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me. But I will punish you all for it,’ he says in the video, which runs to almost seven minutes.
He repeatedly promises to ‘punish’ women and lays out his plan for ‘retribution.’
‘I’m going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB and I will slaughter every single spoilt, stuck-up, blonde s**t that I see inside there. All those girls that I’ve desired so much, they would’ve all rejected me and looked down on me as an inferior man if I ever made a sexual advance towards them,’ he says.
‘I’ll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am, in truth, the superior one. The true alpha male,’ he laughs like a maniacal movie villain. ‘Yes… After I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house I will take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there. All those popular kids who live such lives of hedonistic pleasure…’
Rodger’s Twitter account has only two tweets, posted on April 19 and 20.
‘Why are girls sexually attracted to obnoxious, brutish men instead of sophisticated gentlemen such as myself? #girls #perverted #sex #unfair,’ reads the first.
‘Why do girls hate me so much?’ he posted on April 20, along with a now-deleted YouTube video.
Deputies found the suspect inside the BMW dead from a gunshot wound to the head. But the sheriff said he did not know if the suspect was shot and killed by deputies or if the wound was self-inflicted. A semiautomatic handgun was recovered.
As the shooting unfolded, residents took to social media to share the news and warn others.
‘I could have easily been dead right now. RIP to the girls who got shot and killed and other people who got run over by this idiot,’ tweeted one.
Read more: DailyMail
