Crime & Safety

Isla Vista Shooter Sought 'Retribution' for Women who Shunned Him

"I wish girls were attracted to me, I don't know why they aren't," wrote Elliot Rodger, a San Fernando Valley resident attending school at Santa Barbara City College.

A 22-year-old Woodland Hills man suspected of killing six people near the UC Santa Barbara campus had posted a "chilling" video on the internet in which he described a plan to kill female college students because he was lonely and spurned.

"On the day of retribution, I am going to enter the hottest sorority house at UCSB and slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up, blonde (student) I see in there," the suspect, Elliot Rodger, said in the video titled "Elliot Rodger's Retribution" that was posted just hours before the rampage.

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"After I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house, I'll take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay ever single person I see there," he announced calmly while sitting in the driver's seat of a car.

At a news conference today, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown identified Rodger as the man who fatally stabbed three male roommates in an Isla Vista apartment Friday night before going on a six-minute shooting spree during which he killed three other people.

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Rodger, a student at Santa Barbara City College, was found dead in his car on an Isla Vista street. "It would appear as though he took his own life," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a news conference.

Two of his alleged victims -- Veronika Weiss, 19, of Westlake Village, and Katie Cooper -- were shot dead outside the Alpha Phi sorority house, Brown said.

A third victim, Christopher Martinez, 20, of San Luis Obispo, was killed at a nearby liquor store.

Brown said 13 people were injured, eight of them by gunfire or four from being hit by Rodger's car.

According to the sheriff, Rodger was armed with three 9 mm handguns, one of which was purchased in Burbank.

Brown described the "Retribution" video as "chilling" and said the crimes had been committed by a "madman."

"Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day I will have my revenge against humanity," Rodger said on the tape, going on to lament his "existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires."

Rodger also wrote a blog in which he said, "Being lonely in a beautiful place like Santa Barbara is truly a horrible experience. As I've said many times, a beautiful environment can be the darkest hell if you have to experience it all alone, especially while having to watch other men walking around with their girlfriends.'

"I wish girls were attracted to me, I don't know why they aren't."

"It was very, very apparent that he was severely disturbed," Brown said.

Rodger said on his blog he was born in Britain and raised in Calabasas and Woodland Hills.

According to a 100,000-word manifesto he wrote titled "My Twisted World," Rodger attended public and private schools in the San Fernando Valley area, including Topanga Elementary, Pinecrest Schools, Crespi Carmelite High, Taft High and Independence Continuation High. He also took classes at Pierce College.

His father, Peter Rodger, has worked as an assistant director on the "Hunger Games" series of movies. Family attorney Alan Shifman told reports that Elliott Rodger had been treated by several mental health professionals and family members had called authorities several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos he had posted.

--City News Service


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