Mainak Sarkar, 38, who was born in India before coming to the USA to study, shot engineering professor William Klug, 39, dead in his office before turning the gun on himself.
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Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that Sarkar drove from his home in Saint Paul, Minnesota to kill Klug and another professor named in a “kill list” found in Sarkar’s home.
Authorities discovered the body of a woman with a gunshot wound, along with an apparent note from the killer, at her home in the city of Brooklyn Park, said police. “Be careful about whom you trust”, the blog reads. He was an Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) alumnus and obtained his MA degree from Stanford University.
Beck said investigators have spoken to the other professor on the list, and that person was aware of the online postings but did not believe they were an indication of any impending violence.
Colleagues of Klug’s said he was a married father of two and described him as a kind, gentle person. Beck said Thursday that Sarkar’s motive may be connected to a dispute over intellectual property, which UCLA has denied.
A police spokeswoman, Officer Jenny Houser, says the gunman was Mainak Sarkar.
Classes at the University of California, Los Angeles campus will resume Thursday for most of the school, and on Monday for the engineering department, whose students and faculty were coming to grips with his loss.
“Stay away from this sick guy”.
The blog, posted in March by a man identifying himself as Mainak Sarkar (MY’-nahk SUR’-kahr), says he and UCLA Professor Bill Klug had personal differences.
In 2013, however, Sarkar had in his doctoral dissertation expressed gratitude to Klug for his help and support.
UCLA engineering professor William Klug, who was killed by a former graduate student in his office, was remembered today by the university’s chancellor as a dedicated faculty member who brought “wonderful gifts and talents” to the Westwood campus.
A source told the Los Angeles Times that the gunman’s claims about Klug were “absolutely untrue”.
Some details are known about Sarkar. Some said they had to rig the doors closed with whatever was at hand because they would not lock.
At nearly the very hour the UCLA gunman, Mainak Sarkar, was going about his bloody business on campus, the Los Angeles City Council voted to study how guns make their way onto the streets. The shooting led to a lockdown on the campus with 60,000 or more students and staff members.
Beck said, “He was heavily armed”. The university has designated “healing spaces” on the campus where students can gather, and counselors will be available for students at the Counseling and Psychological Services office.
An account benefiting the Klug family has been established on the website Gofundme.com with more than $5,000 raised in the first two hours.
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A #BruinStrong candlelight vigil has been planned for 8:30 p.m. on Thursday at Bruin Plaza. Donations to the Klug family memorial fund can be made at here.
