Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

California Student Kills 6 People, Then Himself


The vehicle of the alleged shooter is pictured at one of crime scenes after a series of drive-by shootings in the Isla Vista section of Santa Barbara May 24, 2014.
The vehicle of the alleged shooter is pictured at one of crime scenes after a series of drive-by shootings in the Isla Vista section of Santa Barbara May 24, 2014.
The son of a Hollywood director methodically killed six people in three locations late Friday night in the western U.S. state of California, and then apparently killed himself.

Police say Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old son of an assistant director on The Hunger Games, began his killing rampage at his apartment near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he stabbed three men to death.

He then gunned down two women outside a sorority before killing a man outside a delicatessen.

Police say Rodger, who was a Santa Barbara City College student, then got in his car and opened fire on pedestrians. Thirteen people were wounded in the drive-by shooting frenzy.

Police say Rodger was found dead in his car with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.

Authorities say his killing spree was foreshadowed in a chilling Internet video in which he said he would slaughter all the people who had wronged him. He had also written a lengthy statement on his Facebook page describing himself as an outcast, frustrated by his inability to have relationships with women. He said would start his plan of vengeance by killing as many people as he could by luring them to his apartment.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bob Brown described the slayings as "the work of a mad man."

Deputies found three semi-automatic handguns and dozens of rounds of unused ammunition in Rodger's car. Officials say all were legally purchased.

Brown said police deputies went to Rodger's apartment last month to check on him at the request of his family. The deputies reported that Rodger was shy and polite, but was having a difficult social life.
XS
SM
MD
LG