Home » Blog » Elliot Rodger’s Attacks UCSB Students: Six Dead, Thirteen Injured

BlogElliot Rodger’s Attacks UCSB Students: Six Dead, Thirteen Injured

With all the tragedy around the world, it is sad when tragedy strikes so close to home. With the murder of 6 UCSB students, locals are mourning and asking themselves how this happened.

It was last Friday when Elliot Rodgers, a former student a UCSB went on a killing rampage.  Rodger’s therapist contacted his mother in order to warn her about a manifesto Elliot emailed to him. In the ranting Manifesto, Rodger spoke of his plans to go on a deadly rampage.

After receiving this call, Rodger’s mother went to her son’s YouTube channel where she found a video in which her son was threatening to kill several people. After alerting the authorities, she set off to Santa Barbara with her ex-husband, Elliot’s father.

Sadly, by the time they arrived, it was already too late. Rodger had killed six people and the police reported Elliot taking his own life.

This was not the first time that Rodger’s mother tried to intervene. Earlier this year, she called her son’s counselor and told him about some YouTube videos Elliot had posted. Although the videos were not as threatening as the one he posted before his rampage, they were still odd and needed attention.

After speaking with Elliot’s mother, the counselor contacted a mental health service. The mental health service then contacted the local police department and the police showed up at Elliot’s door to check on his mental health.

Police now tell us that during that encounter with Elliot they were not aware of any videos. After meeting the shy, respectful young man, the police did not think that he posed any threat to anyone or himself.

In his manifesto, Rodger’s mentions the police encounter and how when he was asked if he had suicidal thoughts, Elliot was able to convince them otherwise. He also mentions that if deputies had searched his apartment, they would have found his cache of weapons.

He also mentions that he originally planned to attack the students on April 26, following multiple video posts he made on his YouTube account. After falling ill with a cold, he postponed the attacks.

On the last video he posted, minutes before the attack, Elliot mentioned his plans and his reasons for doing this.

In both his videos and on what he wrote, he speaks of his contempt for the human race. Especially his hate for the women he claims to have kept him a virgin throughout his life and the men who the women chose instead of him.

Even though Elliot was of mixed race, he was racist against those who were not “white.” Posts of his on the website PUAhate.com, show Elliot insulting an Asian male, telling him that no white women would ever want to be with him. “White girls are disgusted by you, silly little Asian,” Elliot wrote.

In his manifesto he also mentions African- American, he wrote “How could an inferior, ugly black boy be able to get a white girl and not me?” Another example of Elliot’s Racism is also found in his manifesto, where he writes “I am beautiful, I am half white myself. I am descended from British aristocracy. He is descended from slaves. I deserve it more.”

When Elliot Rodger attacked the sorority house Alpha Phi at UCSB, he began by knocking loudly on the sorority’s door, no one answered him. In a sorority house were around 50 students live, whether intentionally or not, it is lucky that the door was not answered. Rodger went to the sorority house with the intention to kill every women there and could have added to the death count if the door was answered.

In the end, Elliot managed to kill 6 students and injured 13 more, either with gunshots or with his BMW, which he used as a battering ram against bicyclists and pedestrians.

The shooting rampage lasted around 10 minutes and took place around 9: 30 last Friday night. Three students were killed during the shooting. Back at his apartment, three bodies were found all Asian males. According to the apartment’ lease, two of the bodies belonged to his roommates.

After the tragedy, deputies found unused ammunition and several semi-automatic weapons in Elliot’s car. All weapons and ammunition were purchased legally.

The 6 victims have been identified as: Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, George Chen, 19, Weihan Wang, 20, Katie Cooper, 22, Veronika Weiss, 19 and Christopher Michael Martinez, 20.