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Santa Barbara Shooting Rampage Ends With 7 Fatalities, 13 Injured

Posted at 10:34 PM, May 24, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-24 22:34:32-04
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Courtesy: KTLA

SANTA BARBARA, CA. (Chicago Tribune, May 24, 2014)-  The gunman in the Isla Vista, California, shootings has been identified as Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old student at a city college who had three previous contacts with local law enforcement, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters on Saturday in a second press conference.

“This incident appears to be a mass murder situation,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a televised news conference Saturday morning. “We currently have seven people confirmed dead. That includes the suspect and six victims.” Thirteen more were injured — four injured by the suspect’s car and eight sustained gun shot wounds.

“It is very, very apparent the the suspect was severely mentally disturbed,” Brown said.

According to officials, the shooting spree began at the suspect’s residence when three males were murdered. The victims at the home were repeatedly stabbed.

“It was a pretty horrific crime scene,” Brown told media.

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Courtesy: Getty Images

Authorities said Rodger, the alleged suspect, would go to 10 separate locations before the mass shooting came to an end. Following the stabbings, the suspect drove to a sorority, where he shot three female UCSB students walking on a sidewalk opposite the structure. Two of those victims died — one 22-years-old, the other was identified as Veronika Weiss, 19. The third female suffered multiple gun shot wounds.

The suspect, a student at Santa Barbara City College, then moved on to a nearby deli, where he left his vehicle to shoot 20-year-old Christopher Martinez — another UCSB student. Sheriff deputies saw the shooting suspect flee the scene in his car when they went to investigate shots fired. The suspect continued to drive around shooting at pedestrians. Before the shooting ended, two bicyclists were struck with his vehicle.

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Courtesy: Getty Images

Brown said deputies twice exchanged fire with the suspected gunman before his vehicle crashed. During one of the exchanges, the suspect was shot in the hip area. The spree came to an end when Rodger crashed his car into parked vehicles. At that time, officials said the suspect was pulled from the vehicle with a gun shot to the head.

“It would appear he took his own life at this point,” Brown said.

Click here for the rest of the story from the Chicago Tribune