BREAKING NEWS: Multiple Fatalities as Gunfire Rips Through Isla Vista
Santa Barbara County – As if the UCSB community wasn’t already engulfed in ongoing law enforcement challenges following recent reports of assaults, rapes, robberies, and the violence of “Deltopia” over last month’s Spring Break, just hours ago, at approximately 9:30 p.m. May 23rd, multiple 911 Emergency calls to the Santa Barbara County Emergency Communications Center reported multiple shots fired on the streets of Isla Vista, just yards away from the university campus.
According to the initial media report by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, “seven people are dead, including a suspect, and seven people are wounded.” With the caveat that as of this writing the situation remains fluid, with swarms of deputies involved in an area investigation involving what Hoover describes as “a large number of witnesses” over “approximately nine different crime scenes”, anyone with additional information about this incident is urged to call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at (805) 681-4171.
Rodger’s BMW after the incident
Current information indicates that SBSD initial responders found several gunshot victims on the streets of Isla Vista, the residential area immediately adjacent to the UCSB campus that is home to a large percentage of the student community. While those deputies were engaged in providing emergency first aid to those wounded, reports of ongoing gunfire nearby with the description of a black BMW as the suspect vehicle brought additional law enforcement to the area.
“Six minutes after the initial call was received, the suspect engaged a group of responding deputies with gunfire,” according to Hoover. Gunfire was returned as the suspect vehicle fled the area, only to be confronted by additional deputies with another outburst of gunfire, following which the suspect drove off and “eventually crashed into a parked vehicle.”
The suspect was found dead behind the wheel of the car, the victim of a gunshot wound. It is not known at this time if the suspect was killed by his own hand or by law enforcement gunfire, although a semi-auto handgun was discovered in the vehicle.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown commented just hours ago that “This is obviously the work of a mad man.” Just hours ago, Brown indicated that “a YouTube video titled ‘Elliot Rodger’s Retribution’ appeared to be connected” to the killing spree, in which the subject describes his recent life as being one of “loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires.” That video is currently under careful examination by law enforcement investigators.
Photos: Courtesy Urban Hikers, www.YouTube.com
Read more:
Independent: Seven dead, seven injured in shooting
Monitor: Isla Vista mass murder
