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One of the men who came face-to-face with Elliot Rodger in one of the more foreboding passages in his manifesto is talking about the encounter.
Yukito Isoda crossed paths at an Isla Vista party last July with the man who would go on to kill six people nearly a year later. Isoda told KTLA that Rodger was a sloppy, drunk mess who got aggressive: "He was really drunk and obnoxious and started kind of stumbling into us."
At one point, he says Rodger tried to push a few girls off a 10-foot ledge, and Isoda blocked him, "I stuck one arm out while I was covering the girls at the same time, and next thing you know I looked over and he had tumbled over the fence and ran away."
Rodger actually filed a report against the party-goers, but authorities determined that Rodger was the aggressor in the situation and dropped the case. KTLA asked Isoda what he would do if he could go back in time: "I would have pushed him harder off the ledge if I had the chance."
A major theme in Rodger's 141-page manifesto is his obsession with blonde, beautiful women he believes he's entitled to—and the men they pair off with who he believes are undeserving. His encounter with Isoda was one of those incidents, and in his manifesto, he described Isoda as an "ugly Asian" undeserving of women's affection.
Rodger writes that on that night, he decided to go to Isla Vista before his 22nd birthday in his desperate bid to lose his virginity. He showed up to a party drunk on vodka where everyone except him seemed to be having fun:
I came across this Asian guy who was talking to a white girl. The sight of that filled me with rage. I always felt as if white girls thought less of me because I was half-Asian, but then I see this white girl at the party talking to a full-blooded Asian. I never had that kind of attention from a white girl! And white girls are the only girls I’m attracted to, especially the blondes.How could an ugly Asian attract the attention of a white girl, while a beautiful Eurasian like myself never had any attention from them? I thought with rage. I glared at them for a bit, and then decided I had been insulted enough. I angrily walked toward them and bumped the Asian guy aside, trying to act cocky and arrogant to both the boy and the girl. My drunken state got the better of me, and I almost fell over to the floor after a few minutes of this. They said something along the lines that I was very drunk and that I needed to get some water, so I angrily left them and went out to the front yard, where the main partying happened. Rage fumed inside me as I realized that I just walked away from that confrontation, so I rushed back into the house and spitefully insulted the Asian before walking outside again I stood awkwardly in the front yard for a bit, realizing how pathetic I looked all by myself when everyone was partying around me. To calm down, I climbed up onto a wooden ledge that bordered the street and plunged down on one of the chairs there. Isla Vista was at its wildest state at that time, and I saw lots of guys walking around with hot blonde girls on their arm. It fueled me with rage, as it always had. I should be one of those guys, but no blonde girls gave me that chance. I looked down at all of them, and in my drunken carelessness, extended my arm out and pretended to shoot them all, laughing giddily as I did it. Eventually, some partiers climbed up onto the ledge. They were all obnoxious, rowdy boys whom I’ve always despised. A couple of pretty girls came up and talked to them, but not to me.
They all started socializing right next to me, and none of the girls paid any attention to me. I rose from my chair and tried to act arrogant and cocky toward them, throwing insults at everyone. They only laughed at me and started insulting me back. That was the last straw, I had taken enough insults that night. A dark, hate-fueled rage overcame my entire being, and I tried to push as many of them as I could from the 10-foot ledge. My main target was the girls. I wanted to punish them for talking to the obnoxious boys instead of me. It was one of the most foolish and rash things I ever did, and I almost
risked everything in doing it, but I was so drunk with rage that I didn’t care. I failed to push any of them from the ledge, and the boys started to push me, which resulted in me being the one to fall onto the street. When I landed, I felt a snap in my ankle, followed by a stinging pain. I slowly got up and found that I couldn’t even walk. I had to stumble, and stumble I did. I tried to get away from there as fast as I could.
Rugg and his roomie invited Rodger out to go to the gym or grab something to eat, but Rodger always refused so they stopped inviting him. They would try to chat with Rodger but he always seemed to be "just trying to get to the end of the conversation." Rugg described Rodger as a recluse who stayed in his room mostly and would have angry phone conversations with his father. Rugg told ABC. "They got angrier and louder and he was drunk for a lot of the later ones...there was a lot of frustration for how he’s not having a good time at school. He'd see all these girls hanging out with these guys. He’d try to do the same and it never seemed to work out."
Rugg's roommate said that he suspected Rodger had a gun because he could hear its clicking. Rugg says that he was afraid of putting himself out there, but in retrospect, he wishes that he had spoken up and done something, "I realized that if I am not surprised that this is something he would have done then why did I not say anything?"
It does sound like Rodger's parents were worried he may become violent, and they even reported him to authorities. That didn't seem to do any good—authorities decided he wasn't a threat even though they didn't do enough investigating to find out he had a cache of deadly weapons.
And Rugg wasn't the only one to say that living with Rodger was an uncomfortable situation. The parents of one of the roommates he killed during his spree last Friday reported that their son was eager to move out so that he didn't have to continue living with Rodger.
Related:
Elliot Rodger's Roommate Wanted To Move Away Before Killing Spree
Woman Is 'Devastated' After Elliot Rodger Blamed Her For His Hatred Of Women
The Victims Of The Horrific Isla Vista Mass Killings
Alarming Email Prompted Elliot Rodger's Parents To Rush To Isla Vista During Massacre
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