Another college shooting; this time in Santa Monica

Another college shooting; this time in Santa Monica

By Richard Day on Fri, 06/07/2013 - 4:15pm |

Another series of shootings at a school.

This time at Santa Monica College.

Cable news picking it up.

More news to follow on cable as well as the major sites.

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/07/santa-monica-college-shooting_n_3404689.html?utm_hp_ref=crime&ir=Crime

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LATimes is calling it a "crime spree." What they report doesn't really sound like what we have all come to call a "school shooting." It appears to have started with the perp killing two people in a home near the campus and setting the home on fire. Then he moved on to open fire on vehicles (with four wounded) while trying to carjack two vehicles near the campus library and campus police station. And that he fled to the campus library as police responded...hence the lockdown...

by artappraiser on Fri, 06/07/2013 - 6:05pm

Looks like you got it.

CNN says four dead and one wounded as of 11:30 EDT.

One person was shot in front of the library.

I guess that counts as a college shooting!

by Richard Day on Fri, 06/07/2013 - 11:32pm

I wonder how many more there will be?

by trkingmomoe on Sat, 06/08/2013 - 5:51am

Shaping up to be a puzzling one. Generally consensus seems to be a "suicide by cop" case after he killed his two intended targets. But then, while he was all dressed up in the shooter regalia, James Holmes style, he didn't really seem to have a plan where to go or what to do after killing his purported relatives, and his selection of who and what to shoot and who and what not to shoot after the main killings was random, not a "kill as many as possible." And the targets seemingly not dependent on whether they did what he said, or had a car he wanted, like a "normal" carjacker. Was more like he shot if he didn't like the looks of them. If you were to judge by the targeting alone, you would guess a panicked person shooting nonsensically after committing a crime, but witness descriptions describe his extreme calm.

by artappraiser on Sat, 06/08/2013 - 10:04am

Getting a lot less puzzling:

Source: Santa Monica gunman previously hospitalized for mental health
By Michael Martinez, Susan Candiotti and Miguel Marquez, CNN, June 8, 2013

[....] A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Saturday that the gunman had suffered mental health issues. A couple of years ago, he was hospitalized for treatment after allegedly talking about harming someone, according to the official.

It's not clear whether the state government or his family committed him for treatment or whether he committed himself. It's also unclear under what circumstances he was released. [....]

The Voice probably told him where to go and who and what to shoot at.

by artappraiser on Sat, 06/08/2013 - 1:45pm

Here is an update:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/08/santa-monica-gunman_n_3408305.html

This guy was geared to kill hundreds!

Amazing!

by Richard Day on Sat, 06/08/2013 - 5:46pm

From KABC news in L.A.:

A neighbor described the suspect as an unemployed man who lived with his mother in Mar Vista.

"My heart breaks for her, because I knew the kid wasn't right. You know how you can just sense there's something not quite right about somebody? Something not quite right," said neighbor Beverly Meadows, who added that the suspect had recently shaved his head, grew a beard and was possibly planning to move overseas to live with other family members.

Also, a heart-wrenching description of one victim:

A short time later, a woman collecting recyclables was gunned down outside the school's library. Lewis said the woman was not an SMC student and was in her 50s

by artappraiser on Sat, 06/08/2013 - 10:04pm

Santa Monica shooter John Zawahri left a remorseful farewell note to friends, mother
The three- to four-page handwritten letter was found on Zawahri's body and expressed remorse for the killing of his father and brother.

Associated Press, June 14, 2013

[....] The three- to four-page handwritten note was found on Zawahri’s body after he was shot and killed June 7 by officers on the campus of Santa Monica College, Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said at a news conference.

In the note, which was conversational in tone, 23-year-old Zawahri also said goodbye to friends and expressed hope that his mother would be taken care of and receive recompense from his father’s estate.

Seabrooks said investigators believe mental illness played a role in the killings, but she didn’t give details. “We know his was a troubled life and that he experienced mental health challenges,” Seabrooks said. “We believe that his mental health challenges likely played a role in his decisions to shoot and kill both his father and his brother, to set fire to the family home, and to go on a 13-minute shooting spree spanning roughly 1.5 miles and which left five innocent people dead and three people injured.” [....]

Seabrooks said the semi-automatic weapon appears to have been built with component parts that are legal to obtain, but put together make the rifle illegal in California. She said he also modified an antique black-powder .44 revolver so that it could hold .45-caliber ammunition; it was loaded during the shooting and he carried it with him in a duffel bag. [....]

by artappraiser on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 2:44am

Another college shooting; this time in Santa Monica

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