Gunman killed 3 people at home before shootings

GOLETA, Calif. -- A California gunman who went on a rampage near a Santa Barbara university stabbed three people to death at his apartment before shooting to death three more in a terrorizing crime spree through a neighborhood, sheriff's officials said Saturday.

The three people in the apartment were among the six left dead Friday night during the shootings near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Elliot Rodger, 22, the suspected gunman, apparently killed himself, authorities said.

At a news conference, Sheriff Bill Brown called it a "chaotic, rapidly unfolding convoluted incident" that involved multiple crime scenes.

Police provided new details about the scope of the killings as they described how he went from one location to another and opened fire on random people and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement before he crashed his BMW.

Brown said the suspect had more than 400 rounds of unspent ammunition in his car.

Brown identified Rodger as a student at Santa Barbara City College.

Rodger fired for 10 minutes as he made his way through the beach community of Isla Vista where students were walking, biking and skateboarding in a deadly rampage that chillingly mirrored threats made on a YouTube video posted that same night, authorities said.

Seven others remained hospitalized with serious injuries.

Authorities confirmed Rodger was the shooter and said they had seized a semi-automatic handgun. It wasn't immediately clear whether he was killed by gunfire in two shootouts with deputies or committed suicide.

Investigators were analyzing a YouTube video in which a young man who identifies himself as Elliot Rodger sits in a car and looks at the camera, laughing often, and says he is going to take his revenge against humanity.

"It's obviously the work of a madman," Bill Brown said.

Earlier Saturday, Alan Shifman -- a lawyer who represents Peter Rodger, one of the assistant directors on "The Hunger Games" -- issued a statement saying his client believes his son, Elliot Rodger, was the shooter.

It was unclear how the son would have obtained a gun. The family is staunchly against guns, he added.

The shootings started around 9:30 p.m. in Isla Vista, a roughly half-square-mile community next to UC Santa Barbara's campus and picturesque beachside cliffs.

Describing the shootings as "premeditated mass murder," Brown said a YouTube video posted Friday that shows a young man describing plans to shoot women appears to be connected to the attack.

Attorney Shifman said the Rodger family called police several weeks ago after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that Elliot Rodger had been posting.

Police interviewed Elliot Rodger and found him to be a "perfectly polite, kind and wonderful human," but noted that he had few friends and no girlfriend, he added.

Police did not find a history of guns.