A crazed gunman went on a shooting rampage in a popular Santa Barbara student enclave, killing six people and wounding seven others before being found dead in his car, in what authorities said was a “premeditated mass murder.”
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said early Saturday that written and videotaped preliminary evidence indicates that this was a "premeditated mass murder," and called the suspect "severely mentally disturbed."
Brown said that investigators were familiar with a YouTube video titled "Retribution" and were looking into whether the person in the video was linked to the killings, KEYT-TV reported on its website.
The young man in the video promises to take revenge on sorority girls who had rejected him over the years. "Tomorrow is a day of retribution," the man in the video says into the camera while sitting in the driver's seat of a luxury car.
The shootings began around 9:27 p.m. Friday when the driver of a BMW began spraying bullets at people gathered in the beachfront city’s Isla Vista enclave to enjoy the start of the holiday weekend.
As sheriff’s deputies were attending to several victims, they were gathering suspect information and hearing reports of additional shots fired in several other areas of Isla Vista, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
The statement said at one point sheriff deputies exchanged gunfire with the suspect who fled in his vehicle.
“Seconds later the suspect was again spotted by another deputy and another exchange of gunfire occurred,” the press release said.
The suspect tried to flee and crashed into a parked vehicle. When deputies approached the suspect, he was dead from an apparent gunshot wound. It is unknown if the gunshot was self-inflicted or if the suspect was shot by a deputy.
A semi-automatic handgun was recovered.
Seven people were sent to local hospitals and were treated for gunshot wounds and trauma, and one person has undergone surgery for life-threatening injuries, Brown said.
A student told KEYT station he saw shots from a BMW fatally striking one woman and critically injuring another woman.
"I heard shots, scream, pain," Michael Vitak said. "All emotions. I hope she is going to be fine."
The shooting prompted officials to issue alerts urging people to stay indoors.
Isla Vista is known for parties, including an annual spring bash that turned into a violent blowout last month as young people clashed with police and tossed rocks and bottles. A university police officer and four deputies were injured and 130 people were arrested.
