ABC 7 screenshot
Authorities have identified the UCLA gunman in the murder-suicide on campus Wednesday as Mainak Sarkar, a former doctoral student who accused his victim of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Sarkar reportedly killed himself after fatally shooting 39-year-old UCLA professor William Klug in Engineering Building 4.
Klug, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, had reportedly been the subject of several angry posts by Sarkar on social media. According to the report, on March 10 Sakar called Klug a “very sick person” who should not be trusted.
“William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor. He is a very sick person. I urge every new student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy,” Sarkar wrote, according to the Times. “He made me really sick. Your enemy is my enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm. Be careful about whom you trust.”
A university spokesperson refuted Sarkar’s comments as “absolutely untrue.”
“The idea that somebody took his ideas is absolutely psychotic,” the source said, adding that Klug went above and beyond to help Sarkar finish his dissertation and graduate, even though the quality of his work was not up to par.
“Bill was a super nice guy,” the source said. “He didn’t want to hurt the guy.”
In the doctoral dissertation submitted in 2013, Sarkar thanked Klug for his help and support.
It was later reported that the gunman had a “kill list,” which police found in his Minnesota home, CNN reports. Klug’s name was on the list, as was the name of a woman whom police found dead, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck confirmed.
“We did a follow-up investigation to that female’s residence in a nearby town in Minnesota and found her deceased by gunshot wound,” Beck said.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times and CNN.