A gunman went on a drive-by shooting rampage in a Santa Barbara student enclave and at least seven people were killed, including the attacker, authorities said.
Investigators believe a 22-year-old named Elliot Rodger driving a black BMW acted alone in the shootings around 9:30pm Friday night in Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown confirmed at a news conference early Saturday that that seven people were killed, including the gunman, and seven wounded.
Rodger was the son of Peter Rodger, assistant director of the Hollywood film franchise The Hunger Games. An attorney for Peter Rodger has confirmed to KCAL that Elliot Rodger was 'involved' in the shooting.
A student at Calfornia State, Raymond Camargo, posted about a student from the Delta Delta Delta sorority who is believed to have been killed in the shooting.
'Katie Cooper, you were a true gem with so much potential. Your love and kindness will always be remembered. I'll never forget the times we've shared and all the lives I've seen you touch. There's so much I left unsaid between us, and I'm sorry... I've never been more sorry. May your soul rest In peace Katie,' he wrote.
Veronika Weiss of the same sorority is also believed to have been shot by Rodger.
Brown said the suspect exchanged gunfire with deputies and then drove off and crashed into a parked car.
'We have obtained and are currently analyzing both written and videotaped evidence that suggests this atrocity was a premeditated mass murder,' Brown said.
Authorities are examining a video posted on social media by the shooter in which he rants about women who supposedly rejected his advances.
The video is called Elliot Rodger's Retribution.
Rodger, a Santa Barbara City College Student and Isla Vista resident, according to his social media accounts unleashed a tirade about his 'loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires,' and blames women for preferring 'obnoxious brutes' to him, 'the supreme gentlemen.'
'I'm 22 years old and I'm still a virgin. I've never even kissed a girl,' he says in the video.
'College is the time when everyone experiences those things such as sex and fun and pleasure. But in those years I've had to rot in loneliness. It's not fair. You girls have never been attracted to me. I don't know why you girls aren't attracted to me. But I will punish you all for it,' he says in the video, which runs to almost seven minutes.
He repeatedly promises to 'punish' women and lays out his plan for 'retribution.'
'I'm going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB and I will slaughter every single spoilt, stuck-up, blonde s**t that I see inside there. All those girls that I've desired so much, they would've all rejected me and looked down on me as an inferior man if I ever made a sexual advance towards them,' he says.
'I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am, in truth, the superior one. The true alpha male,' he laughs like a maniacal movie villain. 'Yes... After I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house I will 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...'