Last night a man killed at least six and injured seven others as he opened gunfire while he walked and drove through Isla Vista, a small community near Santa Barbara. He left behind nine crime scenes. While the suspect has not been officially named, police confirm that 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, who was found dead in his BMW at the scene, may be connected.
Rodger posted a disturbing youtube video just hours before the shooting happened. In the video he states that he will be seeking retribution for the fact that women aren't interested in him and describes what he plans to do to those he feels have spurned him. He also details the reasons why he plans to slaughter the women who have chosen to be with men other than him.
From The Telegraph's transcript:
'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."
"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."
According to The Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown has stated that the investigation is still in its early stages. Brown confirmed that Rodger was found dead at the scene in his BMW, although authorities don't yet know whether the gunshot wound to his head is the result of suicide or confrontation with police. Brown has stated that the mental state of the individual responsible will become more apparent in the days to come, but that this crime could have happened anywhere.
Update: TMZ reports that Rodger is the son of Peter Rodger, second unit director of the first film in he Hunger Games franchise. Elliot Rodger also maintained a large social media presence. His posts on several forums have surfaced, including his interactions on Bodybuilding.com. One of Rodger's comments simply reads "I hate women."
DISCUSSION
A few observations. I woke up this morning to this tragedy after having slept for about 4 hours. I proceeded to scrub through his videos and skim his online posts. A few things popped out at me:
1) It is not just "women" that he is upset with for "abandoning" a gentlemen such as himself. His ire is really directed towards "PRETTY BLONDS". It should come as no surprise that it wasn't the rejection of just ANY ol' woman but "pretty blonds." For instance, in a post he responded to titled "Thread: If a girls swallows, does that make her a keeper?" he says: "This sad loser makes a thread to brag about his girlfriend, but his girlfriend is probably a 4'11 fat whale."
2) He is biracial: Asian Mother and (if I am getting the accent right) Aussie (white) father. Yet, in one of his posts on a bodybuilding site (and what an interesting place that site is! WOW!) he is VERY thankful that despite being half asian it "doesn't show". I really wish I captured those comments because I just went back to see them and they are now gone.
3) Height is an issue for him. He participated in a thread (now gone I think) in which he indicated that he believes that women don't like short men (which I would presume would include him). EDIT: just looked and found one of the posts on height. He says: "You're only 5'6 and you have a girlfriend? I think you're a liar." He is 69" or about 5' 7.5"
Here are some of his posts. About half seem to be gone since I visited this morning. Also, his picture is missing from his profile now:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/search.php?sea…