Killer identified in murder-suicide at UCLA

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Updated June 2, 9:00 am

The gunman who shot and killed a professor and then killed himself was identified as 38-year-old Mainak Sarkar, a former doctoral student from Minnesota, who had accused the victim of stealing code from him.

From the LA Times:

Sarkar, 38, took his own life after killing William Klug, 39, in a small office in UCLA Engineering Building 4, sources confirmed.

Sarkar, a resident of Minnesota, had killed a woman in a small town in that state and investigators had found a “kill list” in Sarkar’s residence, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said during an interview on KTLA. A second UCLA professor was on that list. His identity has not been released.

UCLA was put on lockdown Wednesday after a shooting was reported in the engineering building. Students sheltered in place, until the campus was declared safe by police. “There is no continuing threat to UCLA’s campus,” LA Police Chief Charlie Beck told reporters. 

Wednesday’s classes were cancelled for the 40,000 UCLA students.

According to the Los Angeles Times, this was the the 186th U.S. school shooting since Newtown, Conn. in 2012.