The joy and security young people and families feel on a holiday weekend was shattered Friday night in what may eventually be seen uniquely California drive-by mass murder shooting: a drive by shooting spree in Isla Vista that took the lives of six, allegedly done in a pristine, black BMW by the 22-year-old son of a prominent Hollywood assistant director (credit anna). And, hours before the slaughter, this now-deceased 22 year old, Elliot Rodger — identified by news organizations as the son of the assistant director of The Hunger Games film franchise Peter Rodger — left a chilling but cliched-melodramatic video on You Tube announcing his intention to “annihilate” the girls who left him a virgin and the guys who got the girls.

“I will slaughter ever blonde slut I see,” he says on the video as he sits in his car looking straight at the camera (see video below). News reports all have the basics seen in this CNN report:

A gunman described as mentally disturbed and possibly bent on retribution sprayed bullets from a slow-moving car in a small Southern California college town, killing six people in a rampage called “premeditated mass murder,” Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies said Saturday.

The gunman also died from a gunshot wound after his car crashed Friday night, police said. It was unclear if the fatal head wound was self-inflicted or the result of a firefight with police.

Seven people also were being treated in a hospital for gunshot wounds or traumatic injuries, including at least one who was in surgery, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Kelly Hoover.

“The sheriff’s office has obtained and is currently analyzing written and video evidence that suggests this was a premeditated mass murder,” Hoover said.

Hoover apparently was referring to a YouTube video titled “Retribution” posted by a young man. In the nearly seven-minute video, the young man rants about women who ignored or rejected him over the past eight years and warns that he will “punish you all for it.”
“Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day in which I will have my revenge,” the man says on the video.

Rodger’s video on You Tube posted hours before the rampage will likely be studied for a long time and not just because of him detailing his murderous plans. It’s likely to be studied due to his underlying attitude towards women and the way it shows him at a young age so much the product of apparent movie imprinting, down to a laugh that sounds like a bad imitation of a villain in a melodrama. His video is now making its rounds around the Internet and on news websites. You Tube has taken his original video down for violating You Tube’s terms of service, but other copies of it are still posted and big chunks are being used in news reports. Here’s one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDGsz_8k_E
Mailonline has these additional details about how cold-blooded the shooting was:

As the shooting unfolded, residents took to social media to share the news and warn others.

‘I could have easily been dead right now. RIP to the girls who got shot and killed and other people who got run over by this idiot,’ tweeted one.

‘ANYONE IN IV NEEDS TO STAY INSIDE. There is a shooting rampage by a white male in a black BMW shooting as he is driving by,’ wrote another.

A witness says Rodger fired into a crowd standing outside of a Deli Mart.

‘I heard somewhere between 12 to 20 shots into a group of people who were eating in front of it,’ witness Robert Johnson told NBC Los Angeles.

Sienna Schwartz said the shooter approached her and said, ‘Hey what up?’ and then began shooting at her as she walked away.

The distressed girl said she initially thought the gun the shooter flashed at her was an airsoft gun but realized it was real when three or four bullets buzzed past her ears.’

A local news website has a photo of the crashed BMW, and Mailonline offers this photo from Facebook of Rodger in a black BMW with plates it says matches the one that crashed:

But the most wrenching videos are the ones showing the story breaking, and the ones describing e this horrific massacre of the innocents, a sudden tragedy that snuffed out lives and hurled families into abrupt states of shock and grief:

ABC:

Another seven people were injured in the Isla Vista neighborhood about 9:30 p.m. Friday, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown. He repeatedly referred to the shooting as a planned mass murder.

“It’s obviously the work of a madman,” said Brown. “It’s just unfortunate that these kinds of circumstances occur.”

A student told ABC affiliate KEYT-TV he saw shots fired from a BMW, fatally hitting one woman and critically injuring another woman.

“I heard shots, scream, pain,” Michael Vitak said. “All emotions. I hope she is going to be fine.”

The suspect crashed his car after exchanging gunfire with deputies, said Brown, and was found dead with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

REACTION ON TWITTER:

His blog is here.

UPDATE: More confirmation coming in that he is indeed the son of Peter Rodger.

His FACEBOOK PAGE.

Mediaite has a confirmation Tweet from AP from the family about Elliot Rodger and some photos showing himn with his famous father.

This one is now getting wide circulation (from the Facebook page):

And this one:

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

themoderatevoice.com/