2013 Santa Monica shooting

On June 7, 2013, a killing spree by a lone gunman occurred in Santa Monica, California, starting with a domestic dispute and subsequent fire at a home, followed by a series of shootings near and on the campus of Santa Monica College. Six people were killed, including the suspect, and four people were injured in the incident.

The gunman, 23-year-old John Zawahri, was killed by police officers when he exchanged gunfire with them at the Santa Monica College library.

Family murders and arson

The California Highway Patrol received a phone call of shots fired at 11:52 a.m. PDT. Upon arrival, police called the fire department when they saw a house on fire, located at 2036 Yorkshire Avenue. After the fire was under control, the bodies of two men were found in the house, and at least one had died from gunshots.

Shooting spree

After setting fire to the house, Zawahri, armed with an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle, stopped a woman driving a Mazda hatchback, holding her at gunpoint. A passing female driver tried to intervene and was shot and wounded by the gunman. He then ordered the driver of the first car, a 41-year-old woman, to drive him to the Santa Monica College campus. Along the way, Zawahri shot at a city bus, injuring three people, and also at a police cruiser. Upon arriving on the college campus, Zawahri shot into a Ford Explorer, killing the 68-year-old male driver and critically wounding the passenger, the driver's 26-year-old daughter who died two days later.

He then continued on foot toward the college library, fatally shooting another woman immediately outside. Entering the library, Zawahri opened fire on students inside. Witnesses stated they heard gunshots and screams, but were able to hide or escape unharmed. While on the campus, he fired at least 70 rounds and dropped a duffel bag loaded with ammunition magazines, boxes of bullets, and a .44 revolver.

When police arrived at the college, they exchanged gunfire with Zawahri. He was fatally shot by police inside the library and then brought outside where he died. Authorities investigated up to nine crime scenes believed to be tied to the thirteen-minute-long shooting spree.

Aftermath

Santa Monica College was placed on lockdown and issued a statement on its Facebook page for students to stay away from the campus. The lockdown was lifted later that day but the campus grounds remained closed until the following Monday morning, when students were scheduled to take final exams. All schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District were placed on lockdown as well.

President Barack Obama was in Santa Monica at the time for a fundraiser just a ten-minute drive from the campus. His motorcade was rerouted and he left safely on Air Force One.

On August 7, 2013 the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees adopted a resolution banning firearms on its nine area campuses. The resolution cited "repeated, serious occurrences of campus-based shootings." It also stated "the presence of firearms, even when nonoperational and in the instructional setting, lends itself to the potential for panic and fear." The policy allows weapons on campus only if carried by a sworn law enforcement officer or for use in a theatrical performance. It effectively ended the conduct of non-credit gun safety classes previously offered on LACCD campuses.

Victims

Five people were killed on the day of the incident, including Zawahri, who was shot by police. One shooting victim died from her wounds in hospital two days later. Four others were injured. The injured victims were treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The conditions of the wounded victims ranged from critical to good, and at least one underwent surgery. Two of the fatalities and at least three of the wounded were women.

Zawahri's first victims were his father, 55-year-old Samir Zawahri, and older brother, 24-year-old Christopher Zawahri, both of whom lived in the home at 2036 Yorkshire Avenue in Santa Monica. They were believed to have been shot and killed after the house was set on fire. One of the victims was a 50-year-old woman shot as she came upon the Yorkshire Avenue carjacking and attempted to intervene. Three other women went to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with minor injuries; one had shrapnel-type injuries and the two others had injuries not related to gunfire. All were treated and released.

On the day of the incident, two people were killed near the library at Santa Monica College. One was a 68-year-old woman, Margarita Gomez, collecting recyclable material, and the other was a 68-year-old groundskeeper for the school and the driver of the Ford Explorer. His 26-year-old daughter and passenger was wounded and died from her injuries in hospital two days later.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office released the causes of death on June 12. Samir Zawahri was shot multiple times, and Christopher Zawahri was shot once in the chest. The school groundskeeper died of gunshot wounds to the neck and face; his daughter, a student at the college, died of a gunshot wound to the head. The woman who was collecting cans outside the library died after being shot in the abdomen and chest. Zawahri died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Shooter

On June 8, officials identified the shooter as 23-year-old John Zawahri. He was heavily armed with an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle, a .44 1858 Remington model cap-and-ball muzzleloading revolver, and an additional upper receiver for the rifle. He wore black tactical clothing and body armor. Sources said Zawahri had forty 30-round magazines in pouches in his clothing and in a bag he carried. Ammunition was strapped to his body as well as in pouches in his clothing and protective vest. Law enforcement sources stated that the attack was premeditated, citing the gunman's extensive armament and preparation.

In 2006, when Zawahri was a student at Olympic High School in Santa Monica, a teacher saw him surfing the internet for information on assault weapons and instructions on making explosive devices. School staff also learned that he had repeatedly made threats against students, teachers and campus security officers. Within days, police were involved and bomb-making materials were found at his home. Zawahri was subsequently admitted to UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute. Zawahri was a student of Santa Monica High School before enrolling in Santa Monica College in the winter of 2009. The college had no disciplinary issues with Zawahri, officials said. He left the school in the fall of 2010.

The rampage allegedly started over an undetermined family dispute. Public records show that Zawahri's parents were married in 1985 and moved into the house they purchased on Yorkshire Avenue in 1996, but the mother left the home and moved to an apartment with the two boys in 1998. She sought a restraining order against the father a short time later, but the case was dismissed when the mother failed to appear in court. Subsequently, the elder son lived with the father at the residence on Yorkshire Avenue, while Zawahri lived in an apartment in Mar Vista, Los Angeles with his mother. Though there is no record that the couple divorced, by 2013 they had been living separately for years. Zawahri's mother was out of the country visiting relatives at the time of the shooting, but returned during the following weekend and was assisting authorities in the investigation.

Zawahri prepared a three-page handwritten note that was found on his body. In it, he expressed remorse for killing his father and brother, but did not give a motive. He said goodbye to friends and expressed hope that his mother would be taken care of and receive recompense from his father's estate. Investigators believe that mental illness played a role in the killings, but no details were given. Searching his home, police found replica weapons and illegal zip guns. It was also learned that the California Department of Justice advised Zawahri in an October 2011 letter that he was ineligible to purchase a firearm. The incident occurred the day before Zawahri's 24th birthday.

Wikipedia.org

Santa Monica shooter John Zawahri left a remorseful farewell note to friends, mother

The three- to four-page handwritten letter was found on Zawahri's body and expressed remorse for the killing of his father and brother.

The Associated Press - Nydailynews.com

Friday, June 14, 2013

LOS ANGELES — John Zawahri left a farewell note in which he expressed remorse for killing his father and brother but left no explanation for the rampage that left them and three others dead in Santa Monica, police said Thursday.

The three- to four-page handwritten note was found on Zawahri’s body after he was shot and killed June 7 by officers on the campus of Santa Monica College, Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said at a news conference.

In the note, which was conversational in tone, 23-year-old Zawahri also said goodbye to friends and expressed hope that his mother would be taken care of and receive recompense from his father’s estate.

Seabrooks said investigators believe mental illness played a role in the killings, but she didn’t give details.

“We know his was a troubled life and that he experienced mental health challenges,” Seabrooks said. “We believe that his mental health challenges likely played a role in his decisions to shoot and kill both his father and his brother, to set fire to the family home, and to go on a 13-minute shooting spree spanning roughly 1.5 miles and which left five innocent people dead and three people injured.”

Zawahri apparently built his own .223-caliber assault rifle, using it to shoot his father and brother before he set fire to their family home, officials said earlier Thursday.

Zawahri’s mother was out of the country visiting family in Lebanon during Friday’s rampage but cut short her trip and returned home Sunday. She has been interviewed by detectives.

Seabrooks said the semi-automatic weapon appears to have been built with component parts that are legal to obtain, but put together make the rifle illegal in California.

She said he also modified an antique black-powder .44 revolver so that it could hold .45-caliber ammunition; it was loaded during the shooting and he carried it with him in a duffel bag.

Zawahri’s rampage ended when police killed him in the Santa Monica College library Friday. To get there, he had carjacked a woman, directing her to the college and having her stop so he could fire at vehicles and strangers. Police still did not know why he chose to go to the college, why he targeted those killed or why he chose that day.

Santa Monica police plan to work with the FBI to understand Zawahri’s psychological makeup and motivation, Seabrooks said.

Officials said Thursday that the fire at Zawahri’s father’s home, which erupted soon after neighbors heard shots fired, was intentionally set.

An official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fires were started in a front living room and atop one of two twin beds in another room. Several boxes of matches were also found in the bedroom.

Firefighters found the bodies of the gunman’s father and brother in a back bedroom that was uninvolved in the blaze. The house was found unkempt with files and papers scattered throughout, providing ample kindling.

In Zawahri’s bedroom, investigations found illegal zip guns, Seabrooks said. They also found ample evidence of his fascination with weapons, including four replica airsoft pellet guns, knives and gun magazines, said Sgt. Richard Lewis. Investigators also found materials that indicate he likely assembled the weapon.

Police said Zawahri bought a lower receiver that was only 80 percent complete. Because it is not complete and not considered a full weapon, a person isn’t required to go through a background check to get one, nor does the part need to have a serial number.

Though Zawahri fired about 100 rounds during the rampage, police said he was carrying 1,300 rounds of ammunition in magazines that were capable of holding 30 rounds each. Such high-capacity magazines are illegal to purchase, sell or transfer in California. Possession is not illegal. He also had a spare upper receiver and the antique revolver with him in a duffel bag.

Zawahri’s last reported contact with law enforcement was seven years ago, when bomb-making materials were found at his house during a search prompted by threats to students, teachers and campus police officers at Olympic High, a school for students with academic or disciplinary issues.

The Santa Monica-Malibu school board was briefed at the time by school administrators after police found Zawahri was learning to make explosives by downloading instructions from YouTube, school board member Oscar de la Torre said.

Retired police officer Cristina Coria, who helped serve the search warrant, said Zawahri was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation at the time. She didn’t know the outcome of the evaluation.

Police declined to provide further details, saying Zawahri was a minor at the time. But once a person is held for such an exam, they cannot access or possess firearms for five years.

In the case of Zawahri, that prohibition would have expired in 2011.

Police said Thursday that in 2011, Zawahri tried to buy a weapon but was denied by the California Department of Justice, likely because of that 2006 incident.

Despite that denial, Seabrooks said, Zawahri was able to buy the component parts to build his own weapon and obtain an array of magazines.

Santa Monica police said they will work with the ATF to understand how he came to possess these gun components, Seabrooks said.

Santa Monica gunman had 'fascination with guns,' friend says

By Louis Sahagun, Marisa Gerber and Scott Glover - The New York Times

June 09, 2013

A family friend of the gunman who killed four people during a Santa Monica shooting rampage said he had an intense interest in guns.

The friend, who asked not to be identified, said John Zawahri, 24, had "a fascination with guns. We were all worried about it.... Everyone is wondering where he got the money for the weapons."

Law enforcement sources described Zawahri as an emotionally troubled person who armed himself with high-powered weapons and may have had up to 1,300 rounds of ammunition.

Several of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Zawahri had struggled with his parents' bitter divorce. He also had a history of mental issues, the sources said, but they could not be more specific.

Santa Monica police said Saturday that the department had dealt with the gunman in connection with an incident in 2006 but would not provide details because he was a juvenile at the time.

Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks also said officers had previously gone to the Yorkshire Avenue home where the rampage began.

Just before noon Friday, the home was set on fire and authorities found the gunman's father, Samir Zawahri, 55, and brother, Chris, 25, dead, sources said.

Seabrooks said the gunman was "connected" with Santa Monica College in 2010 but did not say whether he was a student.

Police said the rampage lasted about 10 minutes, with the gunman cutting a sharp, bloody path through normally quiet streets. It ended when Zawahri, who'd been firing a semiautomatic rifle, was shot and killed on the campus.

"Any time someone puts on a vest of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines … has a handgun and has a semiautomatic rifle, carjacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be killed at the hands of police," Seabrooks said, "… that's premeditated."

Details on the gunman and his victims weren't available Saturday, partly because the shooter's mother, identified by the sources as Randa Abdou, was said to be out of the country and had not been reached by police.

As investigators fanned out across Santa Monica, surveying multiple crime scenes, a picture of the gunman's fractured and troubled family emerged.

Zawahri's parents had been divorced for years, neighbors said. Court records show two divorce filings. One was filed in 1993, by Samir Zawahri. Another, noting domestic violence, was filed by Abdou in 1998.

Another neighbor, Beverly Meadows, described Abdou as a slight woman who moved into the second-floor apartment next door about five years ago. Abdou, she said, was on a one-month vacation in Lebanon and due back in Los Angeles sometime next week.

"She's a lovely woman," Meadows said. "Petite, sweet, quiet, brunet and classy — with a crazy kid."

A few miles away, Abdou's co-workers at the Rose Cafe in Venice — one of two waitressing jobs she holds — struggled Saturday to cope with the shootings.

"All I can think about are Randa's loving ways," said fellow waitress Nicole Derseweh, 30, tears in her eyes. "She's playful and funny, and always singing Top 40 tunes.... I never saw her cry. She never talked about her kids."

Co-workers said Abdou's best friend, a fellow waitress, was among several students studying for year-end exams at Santa Monica College when the gunman opened fire on them.

The friend escaped unharmed. But she confided to co-workers that she was planning to seek grief counseling.

Police are still searching for what may have triggered the rampage. Seabrooks said the gunman would have turned 24 on Saturday.

Santa Monica gunman had past mental issues, police sources say

A gunman who killed four in a rampage before being killed by police at Santa Monica College was emotionally troubled and heavily armed, police sources say.

By Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

June 08, 2013

A gunman's rampage that left four victims dead in Santa Monica on Friday was a premeditated act by an emotionally troubled person who armed himself with high-powered weapons and may have had up to 1,300 rounds of ammunition, law enforcement sources said Saturday.

Authorities have not officially named the gunman who was killed by police. But law enforcement sources in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles identified him as John Zawahri, 23.

Several of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Zawahri had struggled with his parents' bitter divorce. He also had a history of mental issues, the sources said, but they could not be more specific.

Santa Monica police said Saturday that the department had dealt with the gunman in connection with an incident in 2006 but would not provide details because he was a juvenile at the time.

Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks also said officers had previously gone to the Yorkshire Avenue home where the rampage began.

Just before noon Friday, the home was set on fire, and authorities found the gunman's father, Samir Zawahri, 55, and brother, Chris, 25, dead, sources said.

Seabrooks said the gunman was "connected" with Santa Monica College in 2010 but did not say whether he was a student.

Police said the rampage lasted about 10 minutes, with the gunman cutting a sharp, bloody path through normally quiet streets. It ended when Zawahri, who'd been firing a semiautomatic rifle, was shot on the campus.

"Any time someone puts on a vest of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines … has a handgun and has a semiautomatic rifle, carjacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be killed at the hands of police," Seabrooks said, "… that's premeditated."

A close friend of the family, who asked not to be identified, said that Zawahri struggled with mental health problems. "John had a fascination with guns," said the friend. "We were all worried about it."

The friend said Zawahri didn't have a job and that "everyone is wondering where he got the money for the weapons."

Details on the gunman and his victims weren't available Saturday, partly because the shooter's mother, identified by the sources as Randa Abdou, was said to be out of the country and had not been reached by police.

As investigators fanned out across Santa Monica, surveying multiple crime scenes, a picture of the gunman's fractured and troubled family emerged.

Zawahri's parents had been divorced for years, neighbors said. Court records show two divorce filings. One was filed in 1993, by Samir Zawahri. Another, noting domestic violence, was filed by Abdou in 1998.

The family moved into a Santa Monica home in the 2000 block of Yorkshire Avenue about two decades ago, neighbors said. After the couple split up, Abdou eventually settled into an apartment about two miles away with son Chris. John had remained with his father.

Mykel Denis, who lives in Abdou's apartment complex, described her as a pleasant woman of Lebanese descent who lived with an "angry" son whose voice boomed when he became upset. Denis said he would often hear the man through the walls "yelling, screaming and cursing," and that often the loud outburst occurred when the man was home alone.

Another neighbor, Beverly Meadow, described Abdou as a slight woman who moved into the second-floor apartment next door about five years ago. Abdou, she said, was on a one-month vacation in Lebanon and due back in Los Angeles sometime next week.

"She's a lovely woman," Meadows said. "Petite, sweet, quiet, brunet and classy — with a crazy kid."

A few miles away, Abdou's co-workers at the Rose Cafe in Venice — one of two waitressing jobs she holds — struggled Saturday to cope with the shootings.

"All I can think about are Randa's loving ways," said fellow waitress Nicole Derseweh, 30, tears in her eyes. "She's playful and funny, and always singing Top 40 tunes.... I never saw her cry. She never talked about her kids."

Co-workers said Abdou's best friend, a fellow waitress, was among several students studying for year-end exams at Santa Monica College when the gunman opened fire on them.

The friend escaped unharmed. But she confided to co-workers that she was planning to seek grief counseling.

According to police, Zawahri, dressed in black fatigues and carrying a long semiautomatic rifle, had walked down the block shortly after setting his father's home on fire and shot a sedan, wounding the female driver. Then he carjacked a Mazda hatchback driven by Laura Sisk, 41.

Sisk said Zawahri said little other than giving her directions and telling her to keep calm. "You're going to drive me to Santa Monica College and let me out," he said.

Near Pico and Cloverfield boulevards, the gunman briefly stepped out of Sisk's car and fired at a Santa Monica city bus, strafing it front to back, shattering windows and sending passengers diving to the floor for cover. A woman sitting in a back row was grazed in the head by a bullet.

Getting back into the car, he told Sisk, "Go! Go! Go!"

At a parking lot near the college he fired at a red Ford Explorer driven by Carlos Franco, a 68-year-old groundskeeper at the college, who was with his daughter.

Franco died at the scene. His daughter, 26-year-old Marcela, who had signed up to take summer classes at the college, was also shot. She was in critical condition at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on Saturday and was not expected to survive.

Allowing Sisk to drive away, Zawahri ran on to the sprawling campus. He encountered police and exchanged gunfire with them.

It was outside the school's library that Zawahri shot a middle-aged student. She died later at a local hospital. Neither college officials nor the police would give her name. She was described as a white student in her 50s.

Zawahri went into the library and fired a fusillade of rounds as students dove for cover and hid in nearby rooms.

Seabrooks, the Santa Monica chief, said Saturday several students hid in an adjacent room, blocking the door and surviving after the gunman shot at them through the wall.

Eventually, Zawahri found himself face to face with city and campus police, who wounded him, Seabrooks said.

After police carried him outside, he died on the sidewalk. He'd entered the campus armed not only with the semiautomatic assault rifle, but with a large bag that contained up to 20 magazines, and a .44-caliber revolver.

Seabrooks said Zawahri had brought up to 1,300 rounds of ammunition with him.

Police are still searching for what may have triggered the rampage. Seabrooks said the gunman would have turned 24 on Saturday.

Santa Monica shooting suspect, possible motive identified, officials say

By Richard A. Serrano, Andrew Blankstein and Marisa Gerber - Los Angeles Times

June 08, 2013

The gunman accused of killing four people in a Santa Monica shooting rampage Friday was apparently angry over his parents' divorce and had some mental health issues in the past, a law enforcement source told The Times.

The suspect was identified by five law enforcement sources in Washington and Los Angeles as John Zawahri, in his 20s.

Other sources with knowledge of the investigation said detectives believe the shooting was sparked by a family dispute of some kind but emphasized that the investigation was still in its early stages.

The suspect's past mental health issues occurred when he was juvenile, the law enforcement source said, but no further details were offered.

The sources all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

These sources said the alleged gunman's first victims were his father and brother, whose bodies were found in a burning home.

One thing the investigators were trying to figure out is why the suspect wanted to be driven to Santa Monica College, where he was ultimately killed by police.

Police have stressed that the rampage was not a "school shooting" and that the violence occurred in many places and happened to end on the campus.

But a woman who was carjacked by the alleged gunman said he specifically asked to be taken to the college.

"You're going to drive me to Santa Monica College and let me out," Laura Sisk, 41, of Culver City recalled the suspect saying in an interview with The Times.

As of Saturday morning, law enforcement sources said they did not believe the college was the target.

Police were expected to hold a news conference at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The first signs of trouble came about 11:50 a.m. Friday, when gunshots rang out in the vicinity of Kansas and Yorkshire avenues, in a quiet neighborhood near the 10 Freeway.

Jerry Cunningham-Rathner had just watched her son walk out the front door of her home a few minutes earlier when she heard the shots. She rushed outside, fearing he had been hit.

Instead, looking across the street, she saw a house engulfed in flames. A man standing in front of the house was dressed all in black, with an ammunition belt around his waist and a large rifle in his hands, she said.

"He looked like a SWAT officer," she said.

Firefighters later found the bodies of two men inside the house. Police sources said the men were Samir Zawahri, 55, the owner of the house and the father of the alleged gunman, and one of his adult sons.

Cunningham-Rathner looked on in horror as two cars approached. She said the man pointed his weapon at the first, a Mazda hatchback, and yelled at the driver to stop. Cunningham-Rathner said he motioned for the woman driving the second car to keep moving. When she hesitated, the man opened fire on her silver Infiniti, wounding the driver slightly.

Sisk, the driver in the first car, froze, she said. She knew President Obama was in town for an event a few miles away and thought momentarily the man might be a Secret Service agent. She quickly realized that wasn't the case.

She begged him to take the car instead. "No. You're driving," he said.

Before getting into the passenger's seat next to Sisk, witnesses said, the gunman fired several shots around the neighborhood with what authorities later said was an "AR-15-style" semiautomatic rifle.

Other than telling her where to turn, the man said little during the mile drive down Pico Boulevard toward the college campus, Sisk said. He was calm, she said.

Sisk said she was crying and shaking as she drove. The gunman reassured her. "He told me to calm down," she said. "He said he'd let me go if I didn't do anything stupid."

Near Cloverfield and Pico boulevards, the gunman allegedly fired at a city bus from front to back, shattering the windows. Passengers dived to the floor for cover, said Marta Fagerstroem, a student from Sweden who was on the bus and studying for an exam.

A woman sitting in the back row was grazed in the head by a bullet, witnesses said.

"It happened so fast," said Fagerstroem, her voice quavering. "You don't expect this."

Sisk said that after shooting at the bus, the gunman shouted at her to " 'Go! Go! Go!' So I drove, drove, drove."

They continued toward the campus. At a school parking lot at 20th and Pearl streets, the gunman shot two in a Ford Explorer, police said. The driver died at the scene, and the passenger was badly wounded. Shortly afterward, Sisk said, the man ordered her to let him out. After he exited, she sped down the block and then got out of her car and ran.

By that time, officers from the Santa Monica Police Department and the college's police force had received numerous 911 calls reporting the chaos.

The calls took on an even sharper edge with the president in town attending an event at the same time nearby. Federal authorities were quickly made aware of the situation.

Campus police intercepted the alleged gunman on the edge of campus and exchanged gunfire with him, authorities said. They continued to trade shots as the man ran toward the school's library and shot a woman outside the building's entrance before disappearing inside.

The woman outside the library later died at a hospital.

During the rampage, five people were wounded, two seriously, police said.

The library was filled with students studying for year-end exams and the gunman "accosted" several of them, Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said, as he unleashed another barrage of bullets. Hearing the shots, panicked students ran from the building or hid in rooms and under tables.

Officers confronted the man, wounding him. They carried him outside, where he died on a sidewalk.

As police and rescue crews from several agencies descended on the campus, Santa Monica Airport became an impromptu staging area for helicopters ferrying in officers and waiting in case there were injured to be evacuated.

That forced a change in plan for Obama, who was scheduled to be flown by helicopter from Santa Monica Airport to Los Angeles International for departure on Air Force One. Instead, he was driven.

The investigation into the shooting led police to an apartment building on South Centinela Avenue in Los Angeles, where the alleged shooter was believed to have lived with his mother, sources said.

Mykel Denis, who lives in the next apartment, was questioned by police Friday afternoon. He said they asked whether he knew his two neighbors. He described the woman as "pleasant" and her son as "angry." Court records show that Zawahri, the owner of the burned house, had divorced a woman named Randa Abdou, who now lives next door to Denis.

"Sounds really travel in the building and he had a very distinct voice," Denis, 46, said of the son. "It was very low and loud. He was a very angry person."

Denis said he would often hear the man through the walls "yelling, screaming and cursing."

A few years ago, Denis said, he witnessed a particularly hostile exchange between the mother and son. As the young man screamed at his mother and stormed past Denis, Denis said he threatened to call police, and the young man replied: "Go ahead."

FBI, police probe gunman's background in Santa Monica rampage

By Andrew Blankstein and Marisa Gerber - Los Angeles Times

June 08, 2013

The FBI joined local authorities on Saturday in seeking to determine a motive for a gunman's rampage that killed four people in Santa Monica.

The gunman, who was also fatally shot by police to end Friday's harrowing incident, has not been identified. But law enforcement sources said his first victims were his father and brother, whose bodies were found in a burning home.

The sources said they believe those deaths appeared to be tied to a family dispute. But they stressed the investigation is still in its early stages.

Authorities said detectives were trying to look into the background of the alleged gunman as well as his family. They also want to know how he got the semiautomatic rifle he used.

Police are expected to hold a news conference Saturday morning.

The first signs of trouble came about 11:50 a.m. Friday, when gunshots rang out in the vicinity of Kansas and Yorkshire avenues, a quiet neighborhood nestled along the Santa Monica Freeway.

Jerry Cunningham-Rathner had just watched her son walk out the front door of her home a few minutes earlier when she heard the shots. She rushed outside, fearing he had been hit.

Instead, looking across the street, she saw a house engulfed in flames. A man standing in front of the house was dressed all in black, with an ammunition belt around his waist and a large rifle in his hands, she said.

"He looked like a SWAT officer," she said.

Firefighters later found the bodies of two men inside the house. Police sources, who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the men were Samir Zawahri, 55, the owner of the house, and one of his adult sons. A second son is suspected of being the shooter, the sources said.

Cunningham-Rathner looked on in horror as two cars approached. The man pointed his weapon at the first, a Mazda hatchback, and yelled at the driver to stop. Cunningham-Rathner said he motioned for the woman driving the second car to keep moving. When she hesitated, the man opened fire on her silver Infiniti, wounding the driver slightly.

Laura Sisk, 41, the driver in the first car, froze, she later said. She knew President Obama was in town for an event a few miles away and thought momentarily the man might be a Secret Service agent. She quickly realized that wasn't the case.

"You're going to drive me to Santa Monica College and let me out," she recalled the gunman saying.

She begged him to take the car instead. "No. You're driving," he said.

Before getting into the passenger's seat next to Sisk, witnesses said, the gunman fired several shots aimlessly around the neighborhood with what authorities later said was an "AR-15 style" semiautomatic rifle.

Other than telling her where to turn, the man said little during the mile drive down Pico Boulevard toward the college campus, Sisk said. He was calm, she said.

Sisk said she was crying and shaking as she drove. The gunman reassured her. "He told me to calm down," she said. "He said he'd let me go if I didn't do anything stupid."

Near Cloverfield and Pico boulevards, the gunman fired at the outside of a public bus from front to back, shattering the windows. Passengers dived to the floor for cover, said Marta Fagerstroem, a student from Sweden, who was on the bus and studying for an exam.

A woman sitting in the back row was grazed in the head by a bullet, witnesses said.

"It happened so fast," said Fagerstroem, her voice quavering. "You don't expect this."

Sisk said that after shooting at the bus, the gunman shouted at her to " 'Go! Go! Go!' So I drove, drove, drove."

They continued toward the campus. At a school parking lot at 20th and Pearl streets, the shooter opened fire on two people in a Ford Explorer, police said. The driver died at the scene, and the passenger was badly wounded. Shortly after, Sisk said, the man ordered her to let him out. After he exited, she sped down the block and then got out of her car and ran.

By that time, officers from the Santa Monica Police Department and the college's police force had received numerous 911 calls reporting the chaos.

The calls took on an even sharper edge with the president in town attending an event at the same time nearby. Federal authorities were quickly made aware of the situation.

Campus police intercepted the gunman on the edge of campus and exchanged gunfire with him, authorities said. They continued to trade shots as the man ran toward the school's library and shot a woman outside the building's entrance before disappearing inside.

The woman outside the library later died at a hospital.

During the rampage, five people were wounded, two seriously, police said.

The library was filled with students studying for year-end exams and the gunman "accosted" several of them, Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said, as he unleashed another barrage of bullets. Hearing the shots, panicked students ran from the building or hid in rooms and under tables.

Officers confronted the man, wounding him. They carried him outside, where he died on a sidewalk.

As police and rescue crews from several agencies descended on the campus, Santa Monica Airport became an impromptu staging area for helicopters ferrying in officers and waiting in case there were injured to be evacuated.

That forced a change in plan for Obama, who was scheduled to be flown by helicopter from Santa Monica Airport to Los Angeles International for departure on Air Force One. Instead, he was driven.

The investigation into the shooting led police to an apartment building on South Centinela Avenue in Los Angeles, where the shooter was believed to have lived with his mother, sources said.

Mykel Denis, who lives in the next apartment, was questioned by police Friday afternoon. He said they asked whether he knew the two. He described the woman as "pleasant" and her son as "angry." Court records show that Zawahri, the owner of the burned house, had divorced a woman named Randa Abdou, who now lives next door to Denis.

"Sounds really travel in the building and he had a very distinct voice," Denis, 46, said of the son. "It was very low and loud. He was a very angry person."

Denis said he would often hear the man through the walls "yelling, screaming and cursing."

A few years ago, Denis said, he witnessed a particularly hostile exchange between the mother and son. As the young man screamed at his mother and stormed past Denis, Denis said he threatened to call police, and the young man replied: "Go ahead."

Santa Monica shooting: Police seek alleged gunman's link to college

By Andrew Blankstein and Marisa Gerber - Los Angeles Times

June 08, 2013

Detectives probing the Santa Monica shooting rampage that left five dead are trying to determine why the alleged gunman wanted to be driven to Santa Monica College, where he was ultimately killed by police.

Police have stressed that the rampage was not a "school shooting" and that the violence occurred in many places and happened to end on the campus.

But a woman who was carjacked by the alleged gunman said he specifically asked to be taken to the college.

"You're going to drive me to Santa Monica College and let me out," Laura Sisk, 41, of Culver City recalled the alleged gunman saying in an interview with The Times.

As of Saturday morning, law enforcement sources said they did not believe the college was the target. The source said the alleged gunman's first victims were his father and brother, whose bodies were found in a burning home.

The sources said those deaths appeared to be tied to a family dispute. But they stressed the investigation was still in its early stages.

Authorities said detectives were trying to look into the background of the alleged gunman, who has not been identified, as well as his family. They also want to know how he got the semiautomatic rifle he used.

Police were expected to hold a news conference Saturday morning.

The first signs of trouble came about 11:50 a.m. Friday, when gunshots rang out in the vicinity of Kansas and Yorkshire avenues, a quiet neighborhood nestled along the Santa Monica Freeway.

Jerry Cunningham-Rathner had just watched her son walk out the front door of her home a few minutes earlier when she heard the shots. She rushed outside, fearing he had been hit.

Instead, looking across the street, she saw a house engulfed in flames. A man standing in front of the house was dressed all in black, with an ammunition belt around his waist and a large rifle in his hands, she said.

"He looked like a SWAT officer," she said.

Firefighters later found the bodies of two men inside the house. Police sources, who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the men were Samir Zawahri, 55, the owner of the house, and one of his adult sons. A second son is suspected of being the shooter, the sources said.

Cunningham-Rathner looked on in horror as two cars approached. She said the man pointed his weapon at the first, a Mazda hatchback, and yelled at the driver to stop. Cunningham-Rathner said he motioned for the woman driving the second car to keep moving. When she hesitated, the man opened fire on her silver Infiniti, wounding the driver slightly.

Sisk, the driver in the first car, froze, she said. She knew President Obama was in town for an event a few miles away and thought momentarily the man might be a Secret Service agent. She quickly realized that wasn't the case.

She begged him to take the car instead. "No. You're driving," he said.

Before getting into the passenger's seat next to Sisk, witnesses said, the gunman fired several shots aimlessly around the neighborhood with what authorities later said was an "AR-15 style" semiautomatic rifle.

Other than telling her where to turn, the man said little during the mile drive down Pico Boulevard toward the college campus, Sisk said. He was calm, she said.

Sisk said she was crying and shaking as she drove. The gunman reassured her. "He told me to calm down," she said. "He said he'd let me go if I didn't do anything stupid."

Near Cloverfield and Pico boulevards, the gunman allegedly fired at the outside of a public bus from front to back, shattering the windows. Passengers dived to the floor for cover, said Marta Fagerstroem, a student from Sweden, who was on the bus and studying for an exam.

A woman sitting in the back row was grazed in the head by a bullet, witnesses said.

"It happened so fast," said Fagerstroem, her voice quavering. "You don't expect this."

Sisk said that after shooting at the bus, the alleged gunman shouted at her to " 'Go! Go! Go!' So I drove, drove, drove."

They continued toward the campus. At a school parking lot at 20th and Pearl streets, the shooter opened fire on two people in a Ford Explorer, police said. The driver died at the scene, and the passenger was badly wounded. Shortly afterward, Sisk said, the man ordered her to let him out. After he exited, she sped down the block and then got out of her car and ran.

By that time, officers from the Santa Monica Police Department and the college's police force had received numerous 911 calls reporting the chaos.

The calls took on an even sharper edge with the president in town attending an event at the same time nearby. Federal authorities were quickly made aware of the situation.

Campus police intercepted the alleged gunman on the edge of campus and exchanged gunfire with him, authorities said. They continued to trade shots as the man ran toward the school's library and shot a woman outside the building's entrance before disappearing inside.

The woman outside the library later died at a hospital.