Six dead after director's son California shooting spree

Gunman Elliot Rodger stabbed three people to death at his apartment before going on to shoot three more, it has emerged.

The three victims in the apartment were among the six left dead during the shootings near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. British-born Rodger, 22, who had Asperger's syndrome, apparently killed himself, authorities said.

Santa Barbara County sheriff Bill Brown called it a "chaotic, rapidly unfolding, convoluted incident" that involved multiple crime scenes.

The killings began at 9.30pm local time on Friday night (5.30am yesterday Irish time).

Police described how Rodger went from one location to another, opening fire on random people and exchanging fire with police before he crashed his BMW.

Sheriff Brown said Rodger had more than 400 rounds of unspent ammunition in the car.

The gunfire continued for 10 minutes as Rodger made his way through the beach community in the town of Isla Vista, in a rampage that mirrored threats made on a YouTube video posted the same night.

Seven people are in hospital with serious injuries.

Authorities said today Rodger was the shooter and they had seized a semi-automatic handgun. It was not immediately clear whether he was killed by gunfire in two shoot-outs with deputies or if he killed himself.

Investigators were analysing a YouTube video in which a young man who identifies himself as Elliot Rodger sits in a car and looks at the camera, laughing often, and says he is going to take his revenge against humanity.

"It's obviously the work of a madman," Sheriff Brown said.

Yesterday Alan Shifman - a lawyer who represents Peter Rodger, one of the assistant directors on 'The Hunger Games' - issued a statement saying his client believed his son was the killer.

The family was staunchly against guns, he added.

"The Rodger family offers their deepest compassion and sympathy to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain, and our hearts go out to everybody involved," Mr Shifman said.

Richard Martinez said his son Christopher, 20, was killed.

He blamed politicians and gun-rights proponents, saying: "When will this insanity stop? ... Too many have died. We should say to ourselves, 'Not one more'."

Alexander Mattera, 23, said his friend Chris Johnson was walking out of a comedy show when he was shot and stumbled into a nearby house. "He walked into these random guys' house bleeding," he said.

Mr Mattera was sitting at a bonfire with friends when at least one gunshot whizzed overhead. The friends ran for cover.

"We heard so many gunshots. It was unbelievable. I thought they were firecrackers. There had to have been at least like two guns. There were a lot of shots," he said.

Rodger got into two gun battles before crashing his black BMW into a parked car.

Describing the shootings as "premeditated mass murder," Sheriff Brown said a YouTube video posted on Friday that showed a young man describing plans to shoot women appears to be connected to the attack.

The young man describes loneliness and frustration because "girls have never been attracted to me" and says, at 22, he is still a virgin. The video, which is almost seven minutes long, appears scripted.

He pledges to "slaughter" his victims "like animals".

"I will be like a God, exacting my revenge on all those who deserve it, and you do deserve it, just for the crime of living a better life than me."

Mr Shifman said the family called police several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that Rodger had been posting.

Police interviewed Rodger and found him to be a "perfectly polite, kind and wonderful human", he added. Police did not find a history of guns, but did say Rodger "didn't have a lot of friends" had trouble making friends and did not have any girlfriends.

Blood was still visible on the street last night. The wrecked BMW remained, its windshield smashed in and its driver's door wide open.

"This is almost the kind of event that's impossible to prevent and almost impossible to predict," University of California president Janet Napolitano, the former US secretary of homeland security, told reporters.

The Rodger family was not yet ready to speak publicly, but wanted to co-operate fully with police, public agencies and "any other person who feels that they need to help prevent these situations from ever occurring again", Mr Shifman said.

"My client's mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from ever happening again," he said. "This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognising these illnesses."

Mr Shifman said the family was "staunchly against guns" and supports gun-control laws. "They are extremely, extremely upset that anybody was hurt under these circumstances," he said.

In a 141-page document, Rodger wrote how he narrowly missed being found out when police knocked on his door. The officers left after determining he did not need to be locked up for mental health reasons.

Rodger expressed relief that his apartment was not searched because they would have found his weapons and writings.

Sheriff Brown said he would not second-guess his officers' decision-making.