Isla Vista shootings: Parent had warned police about son’s threats

A parent of a college student suspected of a shooting rampage in Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara had become concerned about videos he was posting and alerted police a month ago, according to a source close to the family.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the family of Elliot Rodger made the report to police last month. It was unclear which videos they saw because Rodger appeared to have posted several on YouTube in which he talks about his alienation and threatens violence.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department officials investigating the Friday night shooting that left seven dead, including the gunman, said they are looking at a video titled “Elliot Rodger’s Retribution” in which a young man who identifies himself on his blog as a student in Santa Barbara vows to kill people. That video was posted Friday shortly before the rampage. It has since been removed from the site.

“I’ll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am in truth the superior one, the true alpha male,” the man says on the video, sitting in a car.

In the video, he talks about feeling alienated and rejected by women.

“I will be a god compared to you. You will all be animals. You are animals, and I will slaughter you like animals. I hate all of you. Humanity is a disgusting, wretched, depraved species,” he says.

“Yes, after I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house I’ll take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there.”

In the video he says: “For the last eight years of my life, since I hit puberty, I’ve been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires, all because girls have never been attracted to me. Girls gave their affection and sex and love to other men, never to me.”

A law enforcement source told The Times that Elliot Rodger is the suspect in the Isla Vista shootings.

Rodger’s father, Peter, said through an attorney that he believes Elliot Rodger is the suspect. “I cannot confirm that but we believe it,” the attorney, Alan Shifman, told reporters gathered in front of the family’s home in Woodland Hills.

“Police would not tell us with 100% certainty” that it’s his son, the attorney said. He said he hasn’t seen the video allegedly made by Elliot Rodger in which he talks about his plans. But “from what I understand, it was disturbing,” Shifman said.

Peter Rodger was an assistant director on the 2012 film “The Hunger Games.” He also directed a 2009 documentary, “Oh My God,” in which various people were asked to answer the question, “What is God?”

“The Rodger’s family offers our deepest compassion and sympathies to the families involved in this terrible tragedy,” the family said in a statement. “We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain and our hearts go out to everyone involved.”

Neighbor Boris Bakalinsky said he knows the father and his son. He said the elder Rodger had lived in the neighborhood for about 20 years.

“The boy, it’s just shocking, we just never expected it,” Bakalinsky said.