Los Angeles:
The man who carried out a murder-suicide at UCLA left a “kill list” at his Minnesota home that led authorities to find a woman’s body, Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Thursday. Mainak Sarkar, 38, drove to Los Angeles from Minnesota with two guns and killed Professor Bill Klug before taking his own life, Beck said during his monthly appearance on Los Angeles TV station KTLA.
When authorities searched Sarkar’s Minnesota home, they found a “kill list” with the names of Klug, another UCLA professor and a woman, Beck said. The woman was found shot dead in her home in a nearby Minnesota town, he said. Beck said he could not release that woman’s name. The other professor on the list is OK.
Beck said it appeared mental issues were involved and that Sarkar’s dispute with Klug was tied to Sarkar thinking the professor released intellectual property that harmed Sarkar.
Police asked for the public’s help to find the car Sarkar drove to Los Angeles, a 2003 Nissan Sentra with the license plate 720KTW. Sarkar is listed on a UCLA website as a member of a computational biomechanics research group run by Klug, a professor of mechanical engineering.
Initial reports from the scene set off widespread fears of an attempted mass shooting on campus, bringing a response of hundreds of heavily armed officers. Groups of them stormed into buildings that were locked down and cleared hallways as police helicopters hovered overhead.
