California drive-by shooting: 'Son of Hunger Games assistant director' Elliot Rodger suspected of killing six
Elliot Rodger, named locally as the son of the assistant director of the Hunger Games films, is suspected of shooting dead six people before turning the gun on himself, in a rage against being rejected by women
A young Californian gunman identified locally as the son of the assistant director of The Hunger Games film franchise has killed six people and wounded seven more in a murderous rampage from his black BMW.
The killer, who also died, conducted a series of drive-by shootings in a college town on a busy Friday evening, just hours after apparently posting a chilling video outlining his murderous plans for “retribution” because of rebuffs by women.
The gunman, named locally as Elliot Rodger, was identified as the 22-year-old son of Peter Rodger, an assistant director on the blockbuster Hunger Games film series.
The shootings broke out in the affluent Isla Vista neighbourhood of Santa Barbara next to a college campus at about 9.30pm as young people milled through the streets on their way to and from restaurants, cafes and bars.
The attacks were described as a “slow rolling drive-by shooting” that brought terror to the terrors of the student enclave as the gunman slowed his car down and spoke to passers-by before picking off targets. Some students were celebrating end-of-year graduation ceremonies a few hours earlier.
He then sped off after a “Wild West-style” shoot-out with sheriff’s deputies.
Police said they had identified nine crime scenes in the area. The killer was found dead from a gunshot to his head inside his crashed BMW. A handgun was found next to him, but authorities said it was unclear whether he was shot by sheriff’s deputies or died from a self-inflicted wound
Reports quickly began circulating on social media that the gunman was Elliot Rodger who had posted a ranting video to YouTube a few hours earlier titled "Elliot Rodger's Retribution”. Asked about the recording, the sheriff called it "evidence that we believe is connected to this crime”.
In the video, the man who identified himself as Elliot Rodger, sat in the front seat of a car as he spewed forth his plans to wreak murderous “retribution” for his failure to find a girlfriend.
"Tomorrow is the day of retribution," the man said. "The day in which I will have my revenge against humanity."
After detailing how "girls have never been attracted to me," he threatened to “slaughter” members of a college sorority house – a group for female students - and then "take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there."
He said: '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 said.
“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.
He delivered a a tirade about his '”loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires” and blames women for preferring “obnoxious brutes” to him, 'the supreme gentlemen”.
The sheriff said that "written and videotaped evidence" obtained by the authorities "suggests that this atrocity was a premeditated mass murder."
"There's going to be a lot more information that will come out that will give a clearer picture of just how disturbed this individual was," he added.
Officials recovered a semiautomatic handgun from the suspect's vehicle.