Spree Shooter Found Dead In Crashed Car

"ISLA VISTA, CA — A man who police describe as `severely mentally disturbed` allegedly used a semi automatic handgun to embark on a drive-by shooting spree, killing seven people `at various targets` near a Santa Barbara university campus in California on Friday night. The shooter wounded seven others, and was later found dead with a gunshot wound to the head.

"A student told local TV station KEYT-TV that `she was approached by the driver of a black BMW who flashed a handgun and asked 'Hey, what’s up?'` She kept walking, believing the suspect was carrying an airsoft gun, but heard the buzz of bullets seconds later. The gunman sprayed bullets at numerous targets and `got into two gun battles with deputies during Friday night’s rampage in the beachside community of Isla Vista before crashing his black BMW into a parked car.`

"Police have not yet released the name of the shooter, but KEYT reports that he has been identified as the man in a disturbing YouTube video called `Retribution.` In the seven-minute clip, a man who calls himself Elliot Rodger criticizes women `who’ve ignored or rejected him over the past eight years` and warns that he will `punish you all for it.` `I will slaughter every single blonde slut I see,` Rodger says.

"`This incident appears to be a mass murder situation,` Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a televised news conference. Another witness described it as an `old western shoot-out.`

"The family of Elliot Rodger have confirmed their son as the shooter."

From thinkprogress.org...