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What We Know About Elliot Rodger, The UC Santa Barbara Gunman
Although authorities have yet to confirm the identity of the gunman in last night's UCSB mass murder, KCAL reached out to director Peter Rodger and an attorney confirmed that Rodger's 22 year-old son Elliot was "involved" in the shooting.
Elliot Rodger uploaded a video to his YouTube channel last night (that has since been taken down) where he spoke of a "day of retribution" when he would have his "revenge against humanity" for his loneliness and sexual frustration. He spoke of targeting women and proclaimed himself "the true alpha male."
I take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am, in truth, the superior one, the true alpha male. Yes, after I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house, I'll take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there. All those popular kids who live such lives of hedonistic pleasure while I've had to rot in loneliness all these years. They all look down upon me every time I tried to join them, they've all treated me like a mouse.
Gawker has the video on their site and the LA Times has a transcript, although we warn that the content is truly disturbing.The rest of Rodger's videos portray the life of a depressed and lonely young man. Videos simply titled "Being lonely on Spring Break sucks" and "Why do girls hate me so much?" portended the events that unfortunately unraveled last night. In fact, his videos were so disturbing that a lawyer for the family told the BBC that the family reported Rodger's YouTube videos to authorities weeks before. A video from three weeks ago with the innocuous title of "Another sunny day in Santa Barbara" include the description "I temporarily took all of my Vlog's down due to the alarm it caused with some people in my family. I will post more updates in the future."
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One video posted yesterday ("Elliot Rodger, Lonely Vlog, Life is so unfair") before his rampage shows Rodger wandering a local golf course parking lot, a "place of refuge" for him to avoid seeing couples in public that would stir up feelings of jealousy. The video takes a sinister turn right at the end when he speaks of the lack of attention he gets from women as an "injustice" and one that "needs to be dealt with."
Daily Kos dives further into Rodger's YouTube activity, highlighting that he was a subscriber to a multitude of pick-up artist and "men's rights" accounts, a likely perpetuator of Rodger's misogynistic worldview.
According to his bio on Elliot Rodger's Official Blog, Rodger was born in the UK but grew up in Calabasas and Woodland Hills since the age of 5. It goes on to mention his loneliness and difficulty fitting in to the social scene of Isla Vista. He only had one entry, dated April 16th of this year, titled "Lonely In Santa Barbara":
Being lonely in a beautiful place like Santa Barbara is truly a horrible experience. As I've said many times, a beautiful environment can be the darkest hell if you have to experience it all alone, especially while having to watch other men walking around with their girlfriends. I wish girls were attracted to me. I don't know why they aren't.
Rodger's father, Peter Rodger, is a director who main credits include working as a second-unit director on the first Hunger Games film and as writer/director on the religious documentary Oh My God. Peter Rodger is married to Soumaya Akaaboune, an actress whose credits include the romcom Playing For Keeps and the Iraq War film Green Zone, where she appeared opposite of Matt Damon. Akaaboune appeared on the French edition of The Real Housewives and she can be seen with her husband and Elliot Rodger at a red carpet event for The Hunger Games in this clip on YouTube (timestamped to the segment).
Rodger's rampage last night left a total of seven injured and seven dead, including the gunman himself.
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Update: An attorney representing Rodger's family said that law enforcement contacted after they expressed concern over this YouTube videos found him to be "polite and kind" after they talked with Rodger and took no further action, according to ABC News. The attorney also said that Rodger was enrolled at Santa Barbara City College, and was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and being treated by "multiple therapists." A social worker had also contacted police about Rodger just last week. The family of Rodger wished to send their "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims at this time.
Related:
The Victims Of The Horrific Isla Vista Mass Killings
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