Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown confirmed six people were killed during multiple drive-by shootings Friday night in Isla Vista, with the suspect also dying from gunshot wounds, and seven victims now being hospitalized.
Law enforcement has not confirmed whether the suspect took his own life or was killed by police gunfire, but Brown said the suspect died from a gunshot wound to the head and the “mass murder situation” was committed with a semiautomatic handgun; all shootings occurred within a 10-minute time period. Driving a black BMW, the suspect shot at passersby in at least nine different crime scenes around I.V., including the area around 7-11, I.V. Deli Mart and near the 6500 through 6700 blocks of Sabado Tarde Road, according to police and eyewitness accounts. Around 9:27 p.m., Sheriff’s deputies received reports of multiple gun shots, and around 9:33 pm. the suspect engaged several deputies with gunfire. The suspect then fled following the gunfire, and crashed his vehicle into a parked car on Del Playa Drive.
At a press conference following the night of the incident, at around 2 a.m., Brown called the incident a “mass murder situation” and said there is only one suspect, while also saying the multiple shootings are “obviously the work of a madman.”
One local resident and UCSB student, Niklas Svennefiord, said he saw the suspect flee from police, from his house on the 6500 block of Del Playa Drive. The suspect, a man in a white shirt, crashed into a nearby black Jeep, he said.
“I heard a couple gunfire shots. I thought they were fireworks, so I didn’t think about it, but I was pretty startled and then I heard a car hit into another car. So I look up into my little window that’s in my shower, and I see a guy try to flee and the cops shoot him,” Svennefiord said.
Svennefiord said the suspect then continued to flee from police and also said that he thought one of his friends was injured or killed.
“I see a guy try to flee out of the car and the cop shoots him and then runs up to the car, seriously, and runs up to the car, looks into the car and the guy tries rolling around, and the cop kind of kicked him to make sure he was down,” Svennefiord said.
While saying the situation was “a little obscure,” Svennefiord said it appeared as if the whole incident ended in front of his house on the 6500 block of Del Playa.
Brad Martin, a fourth-year anthropology major, said his girlfriend was walking to his house when she was approached by a vehicle, near the 6500 of Del Playa. Although police say there was only one suspect, Martin said his girlfriend told him there was more than one person in the vehicle.
“She is absolutely hysterical, and so she tells me that these guys pulled up and said, ‘Hey what’s up.’ She turned and looked, and they had a gun and she wasn’t sure if it was a real gun or a fake gun or what type of gun it was,” Martin said. “She said the next second, he raised it up to her face … and she turned around and started running. That’s when she heard ‘bang bang bang’ right behind her, as she was running, and she could feel the wind hitting her hair from the power of the gunshot from less than five feet away from the car.”
UPDATE:
Twenty-two-year-old SBCC student Elliot Rodger posted a YouTube video Friday evening detailing his plans to carry out a murder massacre. Although Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown declined to release the preliminary identification of the suspect at the press conference, Rodger’s father Peter Rodger, an assistant director of a movie in The Hunger Games series, said in a May 24 statement from his attorney that he believes his son to be the shooter.
“This child was being treated by multiple professionals,” attorney Alan Shifman said.
Shifman said Rodger was diagnosed with a highly functioning form of Asperger syndrome and said there was “no history of guns for this child.” Shifman said the Rodger family reported Elliot Rodger’s suicidal rants in multiple recent Youtube videos – which only date back to 3 days ago – to police.
“The position of the family is not to be selfish, but to mourn the losses of all the victims,” Shifman said.
Full video of the Sheriff’s press conference.
Video Courtesy of Erika Martin / Daily Nexus.
Photos Courtesy of Daniel Slovinsky / Daily Nexus and Zack Warburg.
Condolences to the friends/family of the killed. It’s too bad the university doesn’t take safety seriously. Maybe if they didn’t treat their cops like shit and actually have enough officers and resources, then maybe this would have been less likely to happen.
That is absurd. There is absolutely zero connection between how the police are treated and how a mentally ill person behaves. You could however make the totally opposite conclusion. Because Isla Vista is such an unpredictable town, there were an excess of cops on duty that night, possibly saving more lives that if this had occurred on a Tuesday.
So by your own statement, more cops = possibly saving more lives. That supports the previous point that if there were more cops and resources, maybe this could have been prevented or lessened. If IV is so unpredictable as you say, then maybe the resources the police devote or have at their disposal aren’t enough. The guy does have a point. Videos posted for weeks leading up to this, including the one right before it. A “crime alert” that went out 40 minutes after the shooting was over. Take all this in conjunction with all the crap happening in IV… Read more »
IV is loaded with police. Far more than any other community of that size, which is why they were able to respond so quickly. So no, they don’t need more police officers. And yes, their work was very much appreciated by everyone. You are basing you argument about the videos on speculation. The kid was being monitored by the university as he was designated as a “red flag.” His parents were aware of his issues based on his videos. What else could they have done? Lock him up? And that last video appeared to be uploaded the day before, but… Read more »
I watched the chilling youtube video this guy released in advance of his murders. I wonder if his sexual frustrations were fed by the campus culture represented by the sex advice column in this newspaper. Makes it seem like all -normal- students are getting it one with everyone, all the time, like rabbits.
Right. Because UCSB and the Nexus are an anomaly in an otherwise sexless Western media culture.
Also, the suspected killer was an SBCC student.
If you have a problem with the Hump, by all means bring it up, but here and now is not the time.
Let’s not blame UCSB. The university couldn’t have prevented this from happening whatsoever.
This could have happened anywhere in the world.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the students, families and the victims of UCSB and IV.
Plus the dude running down people with his car a few years ago? Yeah, it “could happen anywhere”, but it happened again at UCSB. And don’t get me started on Cal Poly…They could both be Spoiled Brat U, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. And what with the dead girl on the beach? Complete cover-up.
How dare you? Honestly? 6 people were killed last night by a mentally unstable student who in fact was not even a UCSB student, but here you are trying to blame this incident on our “party-school” reputation and spoiled kids? Have some fucking respect. This was a heartbreaking tragedy which had nothing to do with UCSB or IV’s reputation and everything to do with a troubled student with a gun.
UCSB has always been a weird, rich-kid’s Disneyland. My Dad taught engineering there when I was 7. The ’69 anti-war riots had in fact nothing to do with the war. They were just the first of the “party riots”. Nothing like Kent State. In the end, whatever the result, UCSB is a heavily fueled economic force and what fuels it does not matter in the big picture. Party on Garth.
Really, Bob? You were 7 when your dad taught there so you understand what life was like in ’69? In ’69 if you dropped out or flunked out or just plain decided you didn’t want to go to college anymore, you’d be quickly subject to the draft and getting sent to fight in Vietnam. You were not old enough to vote (minimum voting age then was 21, not 18) so you were powerless to affect public policy through traditional channels; frustrations led to rioting at UCSB and many other campuses. UCSB fees were nowhere near as proportionally high then, so… Read more »
Elliot Rodger, mind control in action Hollywood is the mind control center of our banker controlled universe. The Rockefeller family heavily subsidizes and supports Hollywood and the million victims of mind control who work in “The Industry”. This kid was under mind control and probably under specific orders. His video, produced with the steady hand of an expert (his father a director in the craft), belies a clearly premeditated act of murder. THIS HAS CIA FINGER PRINTS ALL OVER IT. I feel sorry for the people who don’t see that. Until you people realize that you live in a carefully… Read more »
@ Mark Williamson,
Now you are scaring the sheep, Mark. Although your post is most likely accurate, the masses refuse to see the signs. Comments like yours simply push them farther from the truth…I do applaud you; however, on your courage to post such “enlightening” matters:)
I hope this turns out to be wrong:
“Although police say there was only one suspect, Martin said his girlfriend told him there was more than one person in the vehicle.”
I’m a former ucsb student. Someone should investigate this mark Williamson comment above. It sounds crazy and alarming. Daily nexus, please check it out
@aaron. I am sorry if I have alarmed you. Did you know that the APA (American Psychological Association), WPA (World Psychological Association), and CPA (Canadian Psychological Association) were formed by Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron who was convicted of doing mind control research on his patients? He was heavily steeped in the CIA, working closely with Director Dulles. Why don’t you do a little research on your own? If you are a real person and are genuinely alarmed, I would think that you would be somewhat curious about the subject. Hollywood makes such a point of directing mind control and conspiracy… Read more »
Mark, what did we tell you about this? You haven’t come in for your shot in three weeks. We’re sending a psychiatrist to your house to administer your meds. Please don’t point a gun at him this time.
@Mark Williamson Small point of information. Rodger’s father is not a director. He is an ASSISTANT director. Huge difference in the Hollywood hierarchy. A promotion for an AD would be to production manager. ADs are not on the director or producer track at all.
@lahope. I stand corrected. If you work in the industry, why don’t you fix it? I think Hollywood has great potential to wake up and someday become human. Learn the lies that they are promoting and shatter them with the hammer of truth. Who are “they”? The Rockefellers own $60 trillion in assets. They could pay our national debt 6 times over. The mere fact that less than 1% of the population knows this should raise eye browse.
I think you mean Rothschilds, but still, no. Apart from the many things that are wrong with that statement (specifically the fact that anyone has that much wealth), it’s simply intellectually dishonest to blame this tragedy on anyone except the perpetrator.
The Rockefellers own vast majorities of and control Chase Bank, and the Federal Reserve (where $9 trillion went missing in 2010). Their oil dynasty alone is worth many times more than Bill Gates. They control the news media in the United States. They control and own large sectors in the military industrial complex. They are the men behind our politicians and our federal police agencies. For the last 50 years they have driven the development of the NSA, CIA and FBI. I see you have side stepped any debate about mind control. Funny how that never seems to be a… Read more »