Calif. shooter posted disturbing videos online
Calif. shooter posted disturbing videos online
GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — A Hollywood director believes his son was the lone gunman who went on a shooting rampage near the University of California, Santa Barbara that killed six people — weeks after the family had called police about disturbing YouTube videos he had posted, his lawyer said Saturday.
Deputies found the gunman dead behind the wheel of his crashed BMW with a gunshot wound to his head Friday night in the beach neighborhood of Isla Vista, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. The rampage also left seven others hospitalized with gunshot wounds or other major injuries, including one who underwent a life-saving surgery.
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.
Authorities have not confirmed the identity of the shooter.
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 from the scene near the university.
A visibly shaken student told KEYT-TV that she was approached by the driver of a black BMW who flashed a handgun and asked “Hey, what’s up?” The student, who didn’t provide her full name, said she thought he was carrying an airsoft gun and kept walking. She said seconds later, she felt something buzz by her head and quickly realized they were bullets.
Kathrin Schirazi Rad got a call from her 21-year-old son, Adrian Timothy Petersson, who told her in a shaky voice that he had been knocked off his skateboard by a BMW being chased by police about 9 p.m. Friday. He hurt his shoulder, but he went home after being checked by first responders to the scene.
The victims’ identities were not immediately released.
Describing the shootings as “premeditated mass murder,” Brown said authorities were analyzing a disturbing YouTube video posted that shows a young man describing plans to shoot women that appears to be connected to the attack.
“It’s obviously the work of a madman,” Brown said.
In the YouTube video, posted Friday, the man sits in a car and looks at the camera, laughing often, and says he is going to take his revenge against humanity.
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 said the family called police several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos “regarding suicide and the killing of people.”
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.
The family is not ready to speak publicly yet, the lawyer said, 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.
‘The bear is loose’ _ Obama goes out and about
WASHINGTON (AP) — “The bear is loose!”
Those were President Barack Obama’s words as he ditched his motorcade and left the White House on foot, favoring the fresh air in a walk toward the Interior Department.
Tourists near the White House never expected to see the president in person on a steamy spring afternoon. One woman squealed with delight; another suggested she thought Wednesday’s sighting might be an Obama impostor.
Since taking office, Obama has grumbled periodically about the claustrophobia that sets in when his every move is surrounded by intense security. That makes it nearly impossible to enjoy the simple pleasures that others take for granted.
“It’s good to be out,” Obama said.
Traditionally, whenever the president leaves the White House, he travels by motorcade or helicopter. Before he arrives at his destination, Secret Service agents have prepared security, which generally keeps Obama at a distance from anything unpredictable.
Life in this bubble can feel suffocating.
For Obama, relief frequently comes in the form of a weekend golf outing, usually at a military base. But every once in a while, the golf course just doesn’t cut it.
“I don’t get a chance to take walks very often,” Obama said this past week. “Secret Service gets a little stressed. But every once in a while I’m able to sneak off.”
Nearly six years into his presidency, Obama seems to be sneaking off just a bit more often.
Last week, diners at a Shake Shack near the White House looked up from their cheeseburgers to see Obama and Vice President Joe Biden stroll in. The White House said Obama was there to promote government-financed work projects and a proposed minimum wage increase, but the hastily arranged visit raised a few eyebrows.
Three days later, Obama was en route to a fundraiser in suburban Maryland when his motorcade made a detour and pulled into a park.
Obama stopped by a baseball field where Little League teams were getting ready for a game. Obama lobbed a few balls toward home plate and posed for photos.
White House officials offered little explanation for the stop, other than to point out that Obama was scheduled later in the week to travel to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. That visit, officials said, was aimed at promoting tourism to the U.S. as a way to boost the economy.
“And, no, this not just an excuse to go the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Obama’s senior adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, wrote in a blog post.
Former White House aides said it’s always gratifying to depart from the norm by allowing the president to interact more directly with people, even if it’s a major headache for those responsible for making it happen.
“Staff loves it, Secret Service hates it,” said Ari Fleischer, who traveled frequently with President George W. Bush as his press secretary. “They want everything buttoned down and under total, nothing-could-possibly-go-wrong control.”