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| Sheriff highlights mental-health shortcomings after California rampage | Sheriff highlights mental-health shortcomings after California rampage |
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| A rampage by a disturbed young man that left him and six others dead in a California college town has put America's gun culture and mental-healthcare system under renewed scrutiny. | A rampage by a disturbed young man that left him and six others dead in a California college town has put America's gun culture and mental-healthcare system under renewed scrutiny. |
| Police named Elliot Rodger, 22, the British-born son of a film director, as the suspect behind Friday's murder spree in and around the Isla Vista campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara, which left a trail of 10 separate crime scenes and 13 people injured. | Police named Elliot Rodger, 22, the British-born son of a film director, as the suspect behind Friday's murder spree in and around the Isla Vista campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara, which left a trail of 10 separate crime scenes and 13 people injured. |
| On Sunday, Santa Barbara's county sheriff, Bill Brown, blamed failures in mental-health treatment for the fact that Rodger's behaviour had worried people around him and precipitated three contacts with police, most recently last month, but had not caused an intervention that might have averted the slaughter. | On Sunday, Santa Barbara's county sheriff, Bill Brown, blamed failures in mental-health treatment for the fact that Rodger's behaviour had worried people around him and precipitated three contacts with police, most recently last month, but had not caused an intervention that might have averted the slaughter. |
| “I think the fact of the matter is, there’s a general lack of resources in community mental-health treatment generally,” he told CNN on Sunday. “There’s also probably a lack of notification by healthcare professionals in instances when people are expressing suicidal or in certain cases homicidal thoughts or tendencies.” | “I think the fact of the matter is, there’s a general lack of resources in community mental-health treatment generally,” he told CNN on Sunday. “There’s also probably a lack of notification by healthcare professionals in instances when people are expressing suicidal or in certain cases homicidal thoughts or tendencies.” |
| An attorney for Rodger's father said Rodger was diagnosed as a high-functioning patient with Asperger's syndrome and had trouble making friends. “The Rodger family offers our deepest compassion and sympathies to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain and our hearts go out to everyone involved,” the family said in a statement on Saturday. | An attorney for Rodger's father said Rodger was diagnosed as a high-functioning patient with Asperger's syndrome and had trouble making friends. “The Rodger family offers our deepest compassion and sympathies to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain and our hearts go out to everyone involved,” the family said in a statement on Saturday. |
| The father of one of the dead put the focus on gun laws, challenging a system which let Rodger, an angry, alienated child of privilege and divorce, legally buy two Sig Sauer P226s and a Glock 34 Long Slide from federally approved stores and register them in his name. | The father of one of the dead put the focus on gun laws, challenging a system which let Rodger, an angry, alienated child of privilege and divorce, legally buy two Sig Sauer P226s and a Glock 34 Long Slide from federally approved stores and register them in his name. |
| In what appeared to be a planned spree – Rodger uploaded YouTube videos in which he denounced women for spurning him and vowed to take “great pleasure in slaughtering all of you” – he allegedly started by stabbing three men repeatedly in an apartment some time before 9.30pm on Friday. It was “a horrific crime scene”, said Brown. The victims have yet to be named. | In what appeared to be a planned spree – Rodger uploaded YouTube videos in which he denounced women for spurning him and vowed to take “great pleasure in slaughtering all of you” – he allegedly started by stabbing three men repeatedly in an apartment some time before 9.30pm on Friday. It was “a horrific crime scene”, said Brown. The victims have yet to be named. |
| Rodger then drove his black BMW to the nearby Alpha Phi sorority house and knocked on the door. When no one answered he shot at three women outside the house, killing Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19. | Rodger then drove his black BMW to the nearby Alpha Phi sorority house and knocked on the door. When no one answered he shot at three women outside the house, killing Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19. |
| Police said he then drove to a delicatessen, entered and shot dead a bystander, Christopher Michael-Martinez, 20. Surveillance footage showed people ducking as he opened fire. | Police said he then drove to a delicatessen, entered and shot dead a bystander, Christopher Michael-Martinez, 20. Surveillance footage showed people ducking as he opened fire. |
| Rodger resumed driving and fired at people on foot, wounding several. He also struck a cyclist with his car. Police gave chase and exchanged fire, hitting Rodger in the hip. The BMW struck another biker, who landed on the bonnet, shattering the windshield. Police believe Rodger turned the gun on himself, firing a single shot at his head. | Rodger resumed driving and fired at people on foot, wounding several. He also struck a cyclist with his car. Police gave chase and exchanged fire, hitting Rodger in the hip. The BMW struck another biker, who landed on the bonnet, shattering the windshield. Police believe Rodger turned the gun on himself, firing a single shot at his head. |
| Along with the three handguns, deputies found nearly 400 rounds of ammunition. On Sunday, Brown praised the actions of deputies who engaged Rodger in “two separate gun battles and put him to flight”, stopping him killing “so many more people and injur[ing] so many more people”. | Along with the three handguns, deputies found nearly 400 rounds of ammunition. On Sunday, Brown praised the actions of deputies who engaged Rodger in “two separate gun battles and put him to flight”, stopping him killing “so many more people and injur[ing] so many more people”. |
| In online postings Rodger said he was born in England to a Chinese mother and British father, Peter Rodger, a Hollywood director and photographer who was an assistant director on the first Hunger Games film. He said he moved to the upscale California neighbourhood of Woodland Hills, near Los Angeles, when he was five and two years later his parents divorced, which he said was a "life-changing event". | In online postings Rodger said he was born in England to a Chinese mother and British father, Peter Rodger, a Hollywood director and photographer who was an assistant director on the first Hunger Games film. He said he moved to the upscale California neighbourhood of Woodland Hills, near Los Angeles, when he was five and two years later his parents divorced, which he said was a "life-changing event". |
| According to the sheriff's office, the agency had contact with Rodger three times before the rampage. Last July deputies investigated injuries he allegedly sustained in an assault at a college party; in January he accused a roommate of stealing $22 worth of candles; on 30 April police visited his apartment in response to a request made by a worried relative thought to be his mother. | According to the sheriff's office, the agency had contact with Rodger three times before the rampage. Last July deputies investigated injuries he allegedly sustained in an assault at a college party; in January he accused a roommate of stealing $22 worth of candles; on 30 April police visited his apartment in response to a request made by a worried relative thought to be his mother. |
| Rodger, whom Brown said deputies found “rather shy, timid and polite, well-spoken”, played down any mental problems, telling police he was having difficulties with his social life and planning to drop out of Santa Barbara City College. The deputies gave advice and information on where to seek help and left. | Rodger, whom Brown said deputies found “rather shy, timid and polite, well-spoken”, played down any mental problems, telling police he was having difficulties with his social life and planning to drop out of Santa Barbara City College. The deputies gave advice and information on where to seek help and left. |
| In fact Rodger seems to have been already planning homicide, detailing his reasons in a 141-page “manifesto”, in which he wrote of his relief that the deputies had not searched his apartment and found his weapons and plans, and a series of YouTube videos in which he spoke of his feelings of superiority, alienation and humiliation. | In fact Rodger seems to have been already planning homicide, detailing his reasons in a 141-page “manifesto”, in which he wrote of his relief that the deputies had not searched his apartment and found his weapons and plans, and a series of YouTube videos in which he spoke of his feelings of superiority, alienation and humiliation. |
| "Look at them," he said to his camera phone, observing a couple on a picnic bench at the beach. "He's in heaven right now, sitting on this beautiful beach, kissing her, feeling her love, while I'm sitting here alone, 'cause no beautiful girl wants to be my girlfriend." | "Look at them," he said to his camera phone, observing a couple on a picnic bench at the beach. "He's in heaven right now, sitting on this beautiful beach, kissing her, feeling her love, while I'm sitting here alone, 'cause no beautiful girl wants to be my girlfriend." |
| He raged that he was a virgin and would exact vengeance. "I don't know why you girls haven't been attracted to me, but I will punish you, for it is an injustice. I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am the superior one, the true alpha male." | He raged that he was a virgin and would exact vengeance. "I don't know why you girls haven't been attracted to me, but I will punish you, for it is an injustice. I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am the superior one, the true alpha male." |
| Rodger was reportedly involved with the online men's rights movement and followed several men's rights channels on YouTube, prompting some commentators to say the root of the tragedy lay in misogyny. | Rodger was reportedly involved with the online men's rights movement and followed several men's rights channels on YouTube, prompting some commentators to say the root of the tragedy lay in misogyny. |
| However, Brown, the county sheriff, alluded to inadequate mental healthcare – a problem which has bedevilled California since it started slashing funding in the 1960s, leaving police and jails to fill the gaps. | However, Brown, the county sheriff, alluded to inadequate mental healthcare – a problem which has bedevilled California since it started slashing funding in the 1960s, leaving police and jails to fill the gaps. |
| “It’s a delicate balance,” Brown said. “You want certainly to intervene and prevent a tragedy such as we’ve experienced here, but on the same point you don’t want to stigmatise people who are seeking treatment for mental illness and you don’t want to prevent them from doing so.” | “It’s a delicate balance,” Brown said. “You want certainly to intervene and prevent a tragedy such as we’ve experienced here, but on the same point you don’t want to stigmatise people who are seeking treatment for mental illness and you don’t want to prevent them from doing so.” |
| Brown continued: “It’s a double-edged sword … but there certainly is a problem and if you look at tragedies like we’ve experienced, the common factor in almost all of these mass-murder situations does appear to be people with severe mental illness who are either untreated or under-treated, who have access to firearms and who snap and go off and commit these terrible, terrible crimes.” | Brown continued: “It’s a double-edged sword … but there certainly is a problem and if you look at tragedies like we’ve experienced, the common factor in almost all of these mass-murder situations does appear to be people with severe mental illness who are either untreated or under-treated, who have access to firearms and who snap and go off and commit these terrible, terrible crimes.” |
| Richard Martinez, the father of the youth who was killed in the delicatessen, said the murder had left the family broken and pointed the finger at the National Rifle Association's promotion of gun ownership. | Richard Martinez, the father of the youth who was killed in the delicatessen, said the murder had left the family broken and pointed the finger at the National Rifle Association's promotion of gun ownership. |
| “Why did Chris die?” he said, in a televised statement. “Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA.” | |
| On Sunday a Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal, told CBS he wanted to revive gun-control legislation which stalled in the face of NRA opposition, after the 2012 elementary school shooting at Sandy Hook in Connecticut. | |
| Martinez continued: “They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop? | |
| “When will enough people say, ‘Stop this madness, we don’t have to live like this.’ Too many have died.” |