The gunman in yesterday’s murder-suicide at UCLA has been identified as 38-year-old Mainak Sarkar, who shot and killed professor William Klug. On Thursday, police said an unidentified woman whose name appeared on a “kill list” written by Sarkar has been found dead in Minnesota.
There’s little information right now about the woman; the LAPD says that the list included Klug’s name, the woman who has been found dead, and a second UCLA professor. That professor is unharmed.
Sarkar graduated from UCLA in 2013 and moved to Minnesota, LAPD chief Charlie Beck said in a press conference today. Police visited the woman’s home Thursday morning, in a town near where Sarkar had settled, and found her dead from a gunshot wound, Beck added.
On his now-deleted blog, Sarkar, a former doctoral student, accused Klug of “stealing” his computer code, an accusation a university source told the L.A. Times was “absolutely psychotic.”
Update, 2:45 p.m.:
The slain woman in Minnesota has been identified by her neighbors as Ashley Hasti of Brooklyn Park. Hasti died prior to the UCLA shooting, police said; she was currently enrolled at University of Minnesota Medical School.
This is a breaking news item and will be updated.
Los Angeles police officers on the UCLA campus June 1 following the shooting. Photo via AP