Neighbors were shocked Thursday night to learn they were living next to a UCLA student who went on a cross-country rampage, shooting his former wife in Minnesota and then his professor on the campus of UCLA before turning the gun on himself.
Many living in the apartment in Minnesota that Mainak Sarkar lived in were in disbelief.
"You wanna think you live in a safe environment for your children and next thing you know you have some whack job down the street going across the country to kill somebody," said Rachel Kubes, a neighbor.
Albert Thomas said he saw Sarkar packing boxes like he was moving out.
"I seen him moving all these boxes into his car, like the day before, like he was moving," said Thomas.
Police said it appears Sarkar first killed Ashley Hasti, his estranged wife, a medical student, in her Minnesota home and then drove to Los Angeles with an arsenal of weapons - in a car police have yet to find.
"He had multiple magazines of ammunition," said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. "He was certainly prepared to engage multiple victims with the ordinance that he had at his disposal."
The news comes as hundreds of students gathered at UCLA to remember a professor. The crowd gathered for a vigil Thursday night in Bruin Plaza, where the base of the bear mascot statue was covered with colored notes paying tribute to William Krug, 39.
Sarkar claimed Klug had stolen his computer code. Beck said Sarkar was mentally unstable and the theft was all in his mind.
Authorities said days before the shooting, Sarkar shot and killed his estranged wife in Minnesota.
