© AP Photo/Jae C. HongBlack BMW shown at the scene of a drive by shooting
Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old suspect in an Isla Vista mass shooting on Friday night, is the son of Hunger Games second unit director Peter Rodger, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Six people were left dead after a gunman opened fire after 9 pm on Friday night in the college town located near the University of Santa Barbara, California. Another seven others were wounded and the gunman was also found dead of a gunshot wound with a semi-automatic handgun found in the suspect's vehicle, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's office stated.
The Sheriff's office has not officially named the suspect. The attorney for Peter Rodger, Alan Shifman, confirmed by phone to THR that the family had contacted police several weeks prior to the shooting. Shifman also confirmed reports that Elliot Rodger, a student at Santa Barbara city college, had been seeing a social worker and therapists recently.
The Associated Press earlier quoted Shifman saying that police were contacted after YouTube clips were uploaded "regarding suicide and the killing of people."
A video featuring Elliot Rodger discussing his alleged intentions has surfaced online (and has since been taken down) and authorities have reportedly said that they have linked the video to the incident.
On Friday, shots were fired in multiple areas of Isla Vista in what has been described as a drive-by shooting.
"At approximately 9:33 p.m., six minutes after the initial call was received, the suspect engaged a group of responding deputies with gunfire. The deputies returned fire and the suspect fled in his vehicle," the Sheriff's department statement read. "Seconds later the suspect was again spotted by another deputy and another exchange of gunfire occurred. The suspect fled down Del Playa Drive and eventually crashed into a parked vehicle. The deputies approached the vehicle and determined the suspect was dead from an apparent gunshot wound."
The department has linked the shooting, described as "a pre-meditated mass murder," to a nearly 7 minute video titled "Elliot Rodger's Retribution" that was uploaded to YouTube on May 23. In the video (since taken down), a man believed to be Elliot Rodger describes a scenario in which he will take "revenge" by exacting violence on the "streets of Isla Vista."
The video clip "appears to be connected at this time," according to Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown, as quoted by The Los Angeles Times.
"This is my last video, it all has to come to this," the man said in the clip, which appears to be filmed in the front seat of the man's vehicle. "Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day in which I will have my revenge against humanity."
Elliot Rodger is the son of Peter Rodger, a special unit director on The Hunger Games. For the Lionsgate film, the director had helped create "the propaganda film for the fictional 'Capitol' in the story," according to the filmmaker's website. Rodger had also directed Oh My God, a 2009 documentary that explored theological questions.
The director's manager has not yet responded to a request for comment from THR.
In the video clip posted on May 23, Elliot Rodger lists a number of his perceived injustices related to his college experience. "I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you, you'll finally see that I'm, in truth, the superior one, the true alpha male," he said in the clip. "After I've 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."
A YouTube channel page for Elliot Rodger shows numerous videos uploaded with titles like "My morning drive to school," including several showing the student alone and driving a BMW sedan on Santa Barbara area roads.
"I can't enjoy life in this world anymore," Rodger said in a separately recorded May 23 YouTube video that was titled "Elliot Rodger, Lonely Vlog, Life is so unfair."
More to come.
Comment: See the alleged shooter's (deleted) video, archived here: