Mainak Sarkar, the Indian gunman who opened fire in a murder-suicide at UCLA, reportedly shot dead his wife, who was on his “kill list”.
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However, local news reports in Minnesota said Mainak Sarkar, 38, killed his wife Ashley Hasti before embarking on a 2,000-mile (3,220-kilometer) journey to Los Angeles in his vehicle to shoot his former professor William Klug.
He said police found an extra box of ammunition in his Minnesota home. Police said, “We believe he went there to kill two faculty of UCLA”, Beck said. Beck said it appeared the woman had been dead of a gunshot wound for “maybe a couple of days”.
The Star Tribune noted that Sarkar’s motive for killing his estranged wife is unclear.
When the authorities searched Sarkar’s home, they found the “kill list” with the names of Professor Klug, another UCLA professor and the woman, he said.
The police believes that the cans were used to refuel the tank on his way from Minneapolis to Los Angeles so as to avoid using his credit card at gas stations during his long drive.
On Wednesday, a “heavily armed” Sarkar carried a backpack, two semiautomatic pistols and extra magazines to Klug’s fourth-floor office, where he fatally shot the professor before turning the gun on himself, Beck said. About two hours after the first 911 call came in around 10 a.m., with the center of campus still saturated with officers, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said it was a murder-suicide and declared the threat over.
“UCLA says there is no truth to this”, Beck said of the alleged theft of code.
Brooklyn Park deputy chief Mark Bruley, left, reads a brief statement during a press conference Thursday June 2, 2016, at Brooklyn Park City Hall about a woman whos body was found, in Brooklyn Park, Minn.
“Professor Klug’s name was on that list, as was another UCLA professor who was alright”, Beck told the station.
A bomb squad was being sent to check out the auto, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Preciado, who confirmed that the auto was the suspect’s vehicle.
Klug, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, specialized in biomechanics, including the workings of the human heart, according to UCLA’s website. A March blog post allegedly written by Sarkar accused Klug of stealing his code and giving it to another student.
In the apartment they found the cat and Sarkar’s supposed hit list. But your friend can do a lot more harm. Former students described him as caring – someone who taught tough classes but took the time to help students needing assistance in their education.
“William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor”, he wrote in the post quoted by several United States media.
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Sarkar, who originally hailed from Kolkata, India completed his engineering in Aerospace from IIT Kharagpur and in 2003 he completed his masters from Stanford.
