California College Campus Shooting - May 24, 2014

[Tamikosmom]

[Tamikosmom]

Sheriffs never saw menacing videos before California rampage
Published May 25, 2014

Authorities who appeared at Elliot Rodger's doorstep last month to check on his mental health hadn't seen online videos in which he threatens suicide and violence, despite his parents contacting police about the alarming recordings.

By the time law enforcement did see the videos, it was too late: The well-mannered if shy young man that deputies concluded after their visit posed no risk had gone on a deadly rampage on Friday.

The sheriff's office "was not aware of any videos until after the shooting rampage occurred," Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kelly Hoover told The Associated Press.

Sheriff Bill Brown has defended the officers' actions, but the case highlights the challenges that police face in assessing the mental health of adults, particularly those with no history of violent breakdowns, institutionalizations or serious crimes.

"Obviously, looking back on this, it's a very tragic situation and we certainly wish that we could turn the clock back and maybe change some things," Brown told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

"At the time deputies interacted with him, he was able to convince them that he was OK," he said.

It's not clear why the sheriffs did not become aware of the videos. Attorney Alan Shifman said the Rodger family had called police after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that their son had been posting.

Doris A. Fuller, executive director of the Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center, said California law has provisions that permit emergency psychiatric evaluations of individuals who pose a serious threat, but that was never triggered.

Rodger's family has disclosed their son was under the care of therapists.

"Once again, we are grieving over deaths and devastation caused by a young man who was sending up red flags for danger that failed to produce intervention in time to avert tragedy," Fuller said in a statement.

"In this case, the red flags were so big the killer's parents had called police ... and yet the system failed," she said.[/b]

Rodger, writing in a manifesto, said he was relieved his apartment wasn't searched because deputies would have uncovered the cache of weapons he used in the beach town rampage Friday in which he killed six people and then, authorities say, himself.

He posted at least 22 YouTube videos. He wrote in his manifesto that he uploaded most of his videos in the week leading up to April 26, when he originally planned to carry out his attacks. He postponed his plan after catching a cold.

Because many of the videos were removed from YouTube then re-added in the week leading up to the killings, it's unclear which of the videos alarmed his family, or whether others were reported that were not uploaded again.

He voices his contempt for everyone from his roommates to the human race, reserving special hate for two groups: the women he says kept him a virgin for all of his 22 years and the men they chose instead.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/25/sheriffs-never-saw-menacing-videos-before-california-rampage/

[Tamikosmom]

The video made by Elliott Rodgers just prior to the his deadly rampage has been pulled by YouTube but it can still be viewed at this CNN link.

It is truly frightening ... chilling.  I have never heard such evil coming from the mouth of another human being.

Janet

++++

Transcript of video linked to Santa Barbara mass shooting
By CNN Staff
updated 6:07 PM EDT, Sat May 24, 2014

VIDEO:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/24/us/elliot-rodger-video-transcript/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Samantha]

Elliot Rodger's Entire 140-Page Manifesto Is Now Available Online and It's Frightening
Posted 05/24/2014
 
My Twisted World The Story of Elliot Rodger
By Elliot Rodger

Introduction

Humanity… All of my suffering on this world has been at the hands of humanity, particularly women. It has made me realize just how brutal and twisted humanity is as a species. All I ever wanted was to fit in and live a happy life amongst humanity, but I was cast out and rejected, forced to endure an existence of loneliness and insignificance, all because the females of the human species were incapable of seeing the value in me.
 
This is the story of how I, Elliot Rodger, came to be. This is the story of my entire life. It is a dark story of sadness, anger, and hatred. It is a story of a war against cruel injustice. In this magnificent story, I will disclose every single detail about my life, every single significant experience that I have pulled from my superior memory, as well as how those experiences have shaped my views of the world. This tragedy did not have to happen. I didn’t want things to turn out this way, but humanity forced my hand, and this story will explain why. My life didn’t start out dark and twisted. I started out as a happy and blissful child, living my life to the fullest in a world I thought was good and pure…

READ MORE:
http://fusion.net/justice/story/elliot-rodgers-entire-140-page-manifesto-now-online-713671

http://www.scribd.com/doc/225960813/Elliot-Rodger-Santa-Barbara-mass-shooting-suspect-My-Twisted-World-manifesto

Could it be that along with the video ... Elliot Rodger's 141 page manifesto will also go "poof" from the internet.  It was unbelievable to me how quickly it was released.  I assume that it was discovered in his room by investigators.

Janet

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Authorities detail moments of terror in California shooting rampage
Published May 25, 2014

<snipped>

On April 30, officials went to his Isla Vista apartment to check on him at the request of his family. But deputies reported back that he was shy, polite and having a difficult social life but did not need to be taken in for mental health reasons, Brown said. Rodger says in his manifesto: "If they had demanded to search my room ... That would have ended everything. For a few horrible seconds I thought it was all over."

Attorney Alan Shifman said the Rodger family had called police after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that Elliot Rodger had been posting.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/25/authorities-detail-moments-terror-in-california-shooting-rampage/

He emailed it to about 24 people (family, therapist) the night that he went on the rampage.

http://us.cnn.com/2014/05/25/justice/santa-barbara-shooter-parents/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Tamikosmom]

Thanks Samantha

Janet

[Tamikosmom]

Parents of Santa Barbara Killer Rushed to Intervene, But Too Late
May 25, 2014

Elliot Rodger's parents raced to find their son Friday night after they got his chilling email outlining a plot to go on a killing spree, but it was too late. Rodger had already set in motion his rampage, including the killing of six people and the wounding of 13 others.

Chin Rodger, his mother, got a call from Elliot's therapist at 9:17 p.m. Pacific Time Friday, just minutes before the 22-year-old student opened fire outside a Santa Barbara, California, sorority house, according to police.

"Have you gotten Elliot's email?" the therapist said, as recounted by Simon Astaire, a close family friend. "I think you should see it."

The email contained links to 137-page manifesto Elliot wrote and conveyed that something was terribly wrong. Astaire, a writer who has served as a media adviser to high-profile individuals, gave this information to ABC News and other media outlets on Sunday.

The alleged shooter's mother then checked Elliot's YouTube channel and found videos including "Elliot Rodger's Retribution," outlining his alienation and loneliness at being spurned by women and his revulsion for happy couples when he had no female companionship.

"On the day of retribution I am going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB and I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up blond slut I see inside there," he said in one video.

An alarmed Chin Rodger called her ex-husband Peter with the news and they immediately set out for their son's apartment outside Santa Barbara. According to Astaire, the parents notified authorities and summoned them to their son's apartment. But by then, he said, news of the rampage had already been reported on their car radio.

The parents had previously called police to report bizarre behavior by their son.

Rodgers was most recently visited and interviewed by the police in April after a family member became alarmed about YouTube posts by Rodger that mentioned violence and suicide. While Rodger's parents and social worker were concerned, police found the student to be polite during their interview. He had taken down the alarming posts. Police cleared the call and left without taking any action.

The family never suspected Elliot would have guns, Astaire said: "He had no affinity, it seemed, to guns whatsoever." But in fact the young man had stockpiled at least four guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo in his room, all bought legally.

According to Astaire, Elliot was a loner who had trouble connecting with people. "He was fundamentally withdrawn," Astaire said.

In the text that his parents saw Rodger, 22, detailed his plans for revenge against women where he planned to kill as many people as possible, including members of a sorority house, his brother and stepmother, and then take his own life.

"'How dare those girls give their love and sex to those other men and not me,' I constantly think when I see young couples," wrote Rodger. "There is nowhere in the world I can go anymore."

The perceived rejection apparently fueled Rodger's rage and the student wrote he felt that humanity had rejected him.

"The females of the human species have never wanted to mate with me, so how could I possibly consider myself part of humanity?" wrote Rodger. "Humanity has never accepted me among them, and now I know why. I am more than human. I am superior to them all. I am Elliot Rodger … Magnificent, glorious, supreme, eminent … Divine!"

"There is something very wrong with that. It is an injustice that cannot go unpunished," wrote Rodger of the perceived rejection.

<snipped>

http://abcnews.go.com/US/parents-santa-barbara-killer-rushed-intervene-late/story?id=23865823

[Tamikosmom]

Only two weeks prior to the rampage ... someone who was concerned contacted authorities after deeming through Elliot's OWN WORDS in posted videos that he was a danger to himself and others.  However ... following a few minutes of conversation outside his apartment  ... responding officers determined otherwise.  It would appear that authorities never view the videos of concern ... videos of concern that would have dictated a search of Elliot's residence ... videos of concern that would have dictated a gun registry search.

An excerpt from Elliot's manifesto regarding the planning of his murderous rampage can be read at the following link in its entirety.

Janet

+++++


Isla Vista shooting: Read Elliot Rodger's graphic, elaborate attack plan
May 25, 2014

Elliot Rodger, the suspect in a rampage near UC Santa Barbara, outlined his intentions in a 137-page document that he sent Friday night, shortly before the killings, to someone he knew from an online body building forum.

THE PLAN

<snipped>

" ... Apparently, someone saw my videos and became instantly suspicious of me. They called some sort of health agency, who called the police to check up on me.

The police told me it was my mother who called them, but my mother told me it was the health agency. My mother had watched the videos and was very disturbed by them. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know the full truth of who called the police on me.

The police interrogated me outside for a few minutes, asking me if I had suicidal thoughts. I tactfully told them that it was all a misunderstanding, and they finally left. If they had demanded to search my room… That would have ended everything. For a few horrible seconds I thought it was all over. When they left, the biggest wave of relief swept over me. It was so scary.

It was all because of the videos. I must have expressed too much anger in them.

I immediately took most of them off of Youtube, and planned to reupload them a few days before the Day of Retribution. ..."

<snipped>

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-isla-vista-document-20140524-story.html#page=1

[Tamikosmom]

Why did responding officers not view the Youtube videos prior to arriving at a decision the Elliot Rodgers was not a danger to himself or others ... the Youtube videos that were the motivation behind the requested welfare  check by the family ... the Youtube videos that would have dictated a search warrant ... a gun registry check?

Janet

++++


Santa Barbara police who investigated gunman Elliot Rodger placed on administrative leave
Published May 28, 2014

Authorities sent to investigate the mental health of Elliot Rodger just weeks before police say he stabbed and shot six young adults to death and injured several others, have been placed on administrative leave, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Department told FoxNews.com late Tuesday.

Spokesperson Kelly Hoover said that this was "standard protocol" as the investigation from Friday's massacre continues. Police officers interviewed Rodger on April 30 as part of a family-requested welfare check after he uploaded disturbing videos to YouTube, but concluded that he was "shy and timid… polite, courteous" and did not further search his Isla Vista, Calif., apartment.

But, as Rodger revealed in his 137-page manifesto, he was hiding three handguns, dozens of rounds of ammunition and a deadly "Day of Retribution” plot at the time of the encounter.

Rodger detailed the encounter with police in his manifesto, writing that the YouTube videos prompted "seven police officers" to "knock on my apartment door."

"As soon as I saw those cops, the biggest fear I had ever felt in my life overcame me," Rodger wrote. "I had the striking and devastating fear that someone had somehow discovered what I was planning to do, and reported me for it.

"If that was the case, the police would have searched my room, found all of my guns and weapons, along with my writings about what I plan to do with them. I would have been thrown in jail, denied of the chance to exact revenge on my enemies ...Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, but it was so close," he wrote.

Rodger went on to write that police interrogated him outside his apartment for a "few minutes" and asked him if he had suicidal thoughts.

"I tactfully told them that it was all a misunderstanding, and they finally left. If they had demanded to search my room… That would have ended everything," Rodger wrote.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/28/santa-barbara-police-who-investigated-hollywood-directors-son-elliot-rodger/?intcmp=latestnews

[Tamikosmom]

Elliot Rodger’s roommate wanted to move out prior to killing, family says
Published May 28, 2014

The parents of one of Elliot Rodger's victims said their son wanted to move out of the Isa Vista, Calif., apartment he shared with his killer because Rodger was loud and not social.

Jinshuang "Jane" Liu told NBC San Diego that her son, Weihan "David" Wang, was set to return home to the Bay Area for the summer and had plans to go on a trip with family to Yellowstone to celebrate his birthday

She said her son, who was a University of California-Santa Barbara student, was friends with the other two roommates, both named victims in Rodger's killing spree, but said her son never talked with Rodger.

"They don't have much interaction," she told the station. She learned about her son's death while working at her nursing job.

<snipped>

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/28/elliot-rodgers-roommate-wanted-to-move-out-prior-to-killing-report-says/?intcmp=latestnews

[Tamikosmom]

Elliot Rodger’s disturbing YouTube videos were known to police during check, but they didn’t watch them
May 29, 2014

LOS ANGELES — Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies checking on Elliot Rodger weeks before he killed six college students were aware of but didn’t view disturbing videos that prompted calls about his well-being.

The sheriff’s office says Thursday that four deputies, a police officer and a dispatcher in training were sent to Rodger’s apartment April 30 after being informed by the county’s mental health hotline that Rodger’s therapist and mother were concerned about videos he posted online.

They questioned him for 10 minutes and then briefed Rodger’s mother by telephone before having him speak to her directly. They found him shy, timid and polite. He told them he was having trouble fitting in socially in Isla Vista and the videos were a way to express himself.

<snipped>

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/05/29/elliot-rodgers-disturbing-youtube-videos-were-known-to-police-during-check-but-they-didnt-watch-them/