Santa Barbara gunman had spent more than a year planning rampage, report says |

The college student who killed six people and injured more than a dozen others in a violent rampage last year had spent thousands of dollars and more than a year planning the attack, according to a new report released this week by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

Over the course of the report, investigators explained the steps that Elliot Roger, 22-year-old college student, took in the months leading up to his rampage near the University of California Santa Barbara last May. Roger stabbed three people to death in his apartment before gunning down three others in the area, firing dozens of shots at people on the streets of Isla Vista and hitting others with his car. He ultimately took his own life.

Before carrying out “a premeditated, murderous rampage,” Roger had spent time researching the Nazis and torture devices, the report said. It appeared that he “was very interested in some of the practices and techniques of the Third Reich,” investigators determined. And not long before the attack he searched for information on knife attacks at train stations in China and on ways to kill with a knife.

Roger stabbed his two roommates, Weihan Wang and Chen Hong, as well as George Chen, who was visiting the apartment, before trying to get into a sorority house. When he was unable to get in, he shot three students on a sidewalk, killing Veronica Weiss and Katherine Cooper. He also shot and killed Christopher Michaels-Martinez, who was standing in front of a market, before he began driving through Isla Vista and shooting or hitting people in the area. The 14 people who were injured and survived included seven who were shot, some multiple times, and seven who were hit with his car.

Police say that Roger took his first overt step in planning the attack when he purchased a pistol in December 2012. He did not grow up around guns and police found that his parents were shocked that he owned any, “since he had never shown any previous interest in guns,” the report states.

At the time of the rampage, Roger had three semiautomatic pistols and 548 live rounds of ammunition in his possession, with more than half of the rounds loaded into magazines. Police also found in his car the knives he had used to kill the three people authorities would later find in his apartment. Roger began spending more money on firearms and at shooting ranges in the four months leading up to his attacks, which police said meant he “was ‘ramping up’ in the planning and rehearsing stages” before the May 23 rampage.

The report is a grim accounting of how a young man described as lonely, frustrated and grappling with longtime mental health issues eventually carried out the brutal attack in Isla Vista, a college town near the university.

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This 67-page-report now becomes part of the growing body of literature surrounding mass shootings and killings, a bleak series of documents that have sought to explain how unthinkable tragedies unfolded and draw lessons for the future. In some cases, the reports sought to explain warning signs that, had they been identified, could have prevented the attacks; in other instances, the reports devote considerable attention to recommendations for law enforcement and emergency officials responding to such scenes.

The investigation into the Isla Vista killings differed from others because Rodger left behind extensive writings and recordings. While this helps document much of Rodger’s preparations for his attack, investigators say they were still unable to conclusively answer the question of why the attacks happened.

“His initial rampage was directed at his roommates and one of their friends, and he then attempted to target a sorority,” the report said. “When that attempt failed, he began randomly targeting victims who just happened to be in the area.”

Investigators wound up trying to piece together the history and actions of someone “who, in retrospect, clearly suffered from significant mental illness that ultimately resulted in homicidal and suicidal rage,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown wrote in the introduction to the report.

Less than a month before the rampage, officers were sent to Roger’s apartment to conduct a welfare check after his mother became concerned about videos he had posted on YouTube. They determined that he was “quiet and timid…polite and courteous,” as Brown said last May, so they left and did not return. It was a red flag visible only in hindsight, as the investigators, like mental health professionals who had treated Roger, did not see any signs that he would be a danger to others, the new report states.

Brown wrote that going through Rodger’s materials was like carrying out “a psychological autopsy,” and he hopes this process can help create better ways to identify and treat people with such issues while taking care not to stigmatize anyone with mental illness.

“We must understand that the vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent, and that mental illness, like physical illness, can usually be effectively treated if properly diagnosed,” Brown wrote.

The sheriff’s report issued Thursday concluded that Rodger acted alone. Now that the report has been released, police have closed the investigation.

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Santa Barbara gunman had spent more than a year planning rampage, report says

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