World News Korner

Lone gunman kills seven and wounds seven more in shooting rampage in California. Update!

Courtesy of the Santa Barbara Independent:

A lone gunman killed six people and injured seven more during a shooting rampage Friday night in Isla Vista that Sheriff Bill Brown called “the work of a madman.” The suspect was killed after firing on responding deputies, but it’s not clear if the fatal wound to his head was self-inflicted or the result of return fire.

The seven injured victims are being treated at Santa Barbara Cottage hospital — some for gunshot wounds, others for trauma sustained when the suspect crashed his car as he was pursued — and one recently underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries.

Initial reports suggested that two suspects were involved in the shooting, but Brown said during a 2:30 a.m. press conference Saturday morning that the gunman acted alone. Brown said the man was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and that investigators are working to determine if other weapons were involved.

The names of the victims and the suspect have not been released. Brown, however, confirmed that written and video material left by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger of Calabasas in the hours and days leading up to the shooting is being reviewed as evidence in the massacre. “It appears to be connected,” he said.

The suspect left a video entitled "Elliot Rodger’s Retribution" (Old video link replaced with new one.) in which he laid out exactly what he was going to do and blamed it on girls not being attracted to him, and stating that he was a virgin that had never even been kissed even though he is the "perfect guy."

The video is incredibly disturbing so watch it at your own risk.

So much for the NSA spying on everything we do. If THIS did not get their attention it is hard to imagine what would.

I assume that the NRA will suggest that the only way to prevent other slaughters such as this one is to arm every sorority girl in America. Because heaven forbid that there is a lunatic out there who CANNOT get their hands on a weapon when they have murder on the mind.

Update: Apparently both his parents and social worker tried to warn police:

A lawyer for Peter Rodger said that his son, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome as a child, had been receiving psychiatric treatment from several mental health professionals.

His parents contacted police after being alarmed by earlier YouTube videos “regarding suicide and the killing of people”, said Alan Shifman, the attorney.

The police interviewed Rodger and found him to be “polite and kind”, though noted that he had trouble making friends, he said.

A social worker, who worked with Rodger, also contacted police about him last week. Police said they were investigating a video in which a man complained of rejection by women and threatened revenge.

Looks like there were people trying to help him, but they simply did not understand the depth of his anger and feelings of isolation.

Personally I think that the minimum that should have been done was to make sure he had no access to weapons. I have worked with a lot of angry, and depressed, young men, and keeping guns away from them is always our top priority.

Update 2: It's even worse than we thought.

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