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Santa Barbara drive by shooting

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Santa Barbara shooting: 7 dead, including gunman - chicagotribune.com
8:02 a.m. CDT, May 24, 2014


Santa Barbara, Calif. -—
A lone gunman sprayed bullets from a car in a drive-by shooting in a southern California college town, killing at least six people before his car crashed and he was found dead inside, authorities said on Saturday.

Seven more people were wounded in what the Santa Barbara County Sheriff described as a premeditated atrocity late on Friday in the town of Isla Vista near the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

"This incident appears to be a mass murder situation," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a televised news conference. "We currently have seven people confirmed dead, that includes the suspect and six victims."

Witnesses reported seeing a black BMW speeding through the streets and spraying bullets at people and other targets in Isla Vista, a beachside community where many college students live, California's KEYT-TV reported.

The sheriff said deputies twice exchanged fire with the gunman before his vehicle crashed and he was found dead inside from a gunshot wound to the head. Authorities recovered a semiautomatic handgun, he said.

"We have obtained and are currently analyzing both written and videotaped evidence that suggests this atrocity was a premeditated mass murder," Brown said, describing the shooting as the "obviously the work of a madman."

Brown could not immediately say whether the suspected gunman was killed by deputies in the exchange of fire or died of a self-inflicted wound, nor did he identify the gunman or say whether he was a student.

'Bang, bang, bang'

Witness Xavier Mozejewski told the station the incident was like an "old western shoot-out."

College student Brad Martin told a University of California at Santa Barbara student newspaper that his girlfriend was "absolutely hysterical" after being approached by the gunman with a weapon she initially was not sure was real.

"She said the next second he raised it up to her face ... and she turned around and started running. That's when she heard 'bang, bang, bang' right behind her as she was running," Martin told the Daily Nexus.

Nikolaus Becker, An 18-year-old Newport Beach man who was visiting Santa Barbara, described a confusing scene as the shots rang out.

Becker was eating outside a restaurant named The Habit, near the scene when the first set of shots was fired about 9:30 p.m. At first he thought it was firecrackers. A group of three to five police officers who were nearby started to casually walk toward the sounds, said Becker, but ran when a second round of shots broke out.

"That's when they yelled at us to get inside and take cover," Becker said.

A black BMW took a sharp turn in front of The Habit, Becker said, and moments later a third round of shots was heard. Becker and his friends moved toward the restaurant's kitchen but were told to wait in the seating area by employees.

He estimates there were at least 13 to 15 shots total at three locations. The locations were about 100 yards from one another.

Becker said one of his friends who came into the restaurant after the shootings saw a police officer trying to resuscitate a bloody male who was hit.

Another girl came into The Habit crying and said her sorority sister had also been struck.

When Becker emerged from the restaurant about 30 minutes later, he saw three light-colored body bags.

"It was chaotic and there's a lot of rumors flying around," Becker said. "It was so strange, afterwards there was still people outside riding their bikes. One guy was doing his homework."


-Reuters and the Los Angeles Times contributed


Apparently this is the sick bastard who did the mass shooting
 
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