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| Alleged target of California gunman says 'it's an absolute miracle' she's alive - Fox News Posted: 26 May 2014 10:07 AM PDT An alleged target of Elliot Rodger's shooting rampage says it's a "miracle" she wasn't struck when the 22-year-old gunman fired multiple shots at her during a killing spree Friday night that left 6 dead and several others injured. In a lengthy manifesto that blamed his rage largely on rejection by women, Rodger wrote that, "I will destroy all women because I can never have them," citing in particular "blonde girls" from the Alpha Phi Sorority at the University of California Santa Barbara. Sierra Swartz, a Santa Barbara City College sophomore, was walking to her boyfriend's house Friday night when Rodger pulled up alongside her in his vehicle and briefly spoke to her before opening fire. "It's an absolute miracle that he didn't shoot me from how close he was to me," Swartz said. "There was no one else around. I was the only person on the streets." "He looked directly at me. He talked to me and then he just shot at me multiple times and somehow, even though I hadn't even ran yet, he didn't hit me," she said. It's not clear whether Rodger knew Swartz or if she was a sorority member. Rodger, son of The Hunger Games Assistant Director Peter Rodger, killed six people, wounded 13 and killed himself in Friday's massacre, which he had referred to as the "Day of Retribution" in the 137-page manifesto he wrote. The first three killed Friday -- Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, George Chen, 19, and Weihan Wang, 20 -- were male stabbing victims in Rodger's own apartment, authorities say. Two of them were Rodger's housemates, whom he described as the "biggest nerds I had ever seen." He wrote in the manifesto that he'd "enjoy stabbing them both to death while they slept." At about 9:30 p.m., the shooting rampage began. Rodger killed 20-year-old Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, a student who was shot and killed inside the IV Deli Mart in Goleta. He also killed 22-year-old Katie Cooper, who was shot and killed by Rodger across the street from the Alpha Phi sorority house. Veronika Weiss, 19, a talented water polo player, was shot and killed alongside Cooper. Authorities who appeared at Rodger's doorstep last month to check on his mental health hadn't seen online videos in which he threatens suicide and violence, despite his parents contacting police about the alarming recordings. By the time law enforcement did see the videos, it was too late: The well-mannered if shy young man that deputies concluded after their visit posed no risk had gone on a deadly rampage on Friday. The sheriff's office "was not aware of any videos until after the shooting rampage occurred," Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kelly Hoover told The Associated Press. Sheriff Bill Brown has defended the officers' actions, but the case highlights the challenges that police face in assessing the mental health of adults, particularly those with no history of violent breakdowns, institutionalizations or serious crimes. "Obviously, looking back on this, it's a very tragic situation and we certainly wish that we could turn the clock back and maybe change some things," Brown told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "At the time deputies interacted with him, he was able to convince them that he was OK," he said. It's not clear why the sheriffs did not become aware of the videos. Attorney Alan Shifman said the Rodger family had called police after being alarmed by YouTube videos "regarding suicide and the killing of people" that their son had been posting. Doris A. Fuller, executive director of the Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center, said California law has provisions that permit emergency psychiatric evaluations of individuals who pose a serious threat, but that was never triggered. Rodger's family has disclosed their son was under the care of therapists. "Once again, we are grieving over deaths and devastation caused by a young man who was sending up red flags for danger that failed to produce intervention in time to avert tragedy," Fuller said in a statement. "In this case, the red flags were so big the killer's parents had called police ... and yet the system failed," she said. Rodger, writing in a manifesto, said he was relieved his apartment wasn't searched because deputies would have uncovered the cache of weapons he used in the beach town rampage Friday in which he killed six people and then, authorities say, himself. He posted at least 22 YouTube videos. He wrote in his manifesto that he uploaded most of his videos in the week leading up to April 26, when he originally planned to carry out his attacks. He postponed his plan after catching a cold. Because many of the videos were removed from YouTube then re-added in the week leading up to the killings, it's unclear which of the videos alarmed his family, or whether others were reported that were not uploaded again. He voices his contempt for everyone from his roommates to the human race, reserving special hate for two groups: the women he says kept him a virgin for all of his 22 years and the men they chose instead. At least two other people who saw Rodger's videos before Friday compared him to a serial killer, through a message board on a bodybuilding website and the social network Reddit. The rampage played out largely as he sketched it in public postings, including a YouTube video where he sits in the BMW in sunset light and appears to be acting out scripted lines and planned laughs. "I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you," the son of a Hollywood director who worked on "The Hunger Games" says in the video posted Friday and taken down by YouTube Saturday with a message saying it violated the site's terms of service. Brown told CNN on Sunday that investigators are close to having a "pretty clear picture of what happened." Deputies found three semi-automatic handguns along with 400 unspent rounds in his black BMW. All were purchased legally. A father whose son was among the victims voiced anger at gun laws Saturday. "The talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?" said Richard Martinez, the father of Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez. "When will enough people say: 'Stop this madness! We don't have to live like this! Too many people have died!" The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
| New Ukraine leader vows peace bid; rebels seize airport - USA TODAY Posted: 26 May 2014 09:33 AM PDT Even as Ukraine's new president-elect pledged to travel to eastern regions to seek peace with insurgents, Ukrainian fighter jets attacked armed militants who took over Donetsk airport on Monday, Ukraine security officials said. Vladislav Seleznyov, a spokesman for Kiev's anti-terrorist operation, wrote on his Facebook page that the military had given an ultimatum to the armed men to lay down their arms. He said the gunmen didn't comply and the military launched an air strike. Several helicopters also joined the initial attack, which lasted at least a half hour and involved Ukrainian paratroopers, the BBC reports. The airport was shut down earlier after insurgents showed up to demand that Ukrainian forces, which have been patrolling the airport perimeter, be withdrawn, Reuters reports. Denis Pushilin, a leader of the separatists, said they had sent their men to the airport after some of their supporters were detained. A Reuters photographer earlier saw three trucks carrying dozens of armed men toward Sergei Prokofiev International Airport. "The rebels are in the terminal. The rest of the airport area is controlled by the (Ukrainian) National Guard. The two sides are in talks now," airport spokesman Dmitry Kosinov told Reuters before the gunfire broke out. It was not clear whether the attack by rebels was a demonstration of defiance or a last-gasp effort following voting on Sunday that elected chocolate magnate Petro Poroshenko, 48, as president. Poroshenko promised to negotiate an end to a pro-Russia insurgents in the east and said he was willing to begin talks with Moscow. Russia quickly welcomed the offer, raising hopes that his election will indeed ease the protracted crisis that has fueled tensions unseen since the end of the Cold War. Upon claiming victory in Sunday's vote, he said his first step as president would be to visit the Donbass eastern industrial region, where pro-Russia separatists have seized government buildings, declared independence and battled government troops in weeks of fighting. "Peace in the country and peace in the east is my main priority," Poroshenko said Monday, signaling that he would bring to an end the Ukrainian army's much-criticized campaign to drive out the armed pro-Russia separatists. "The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months," he said. "It should and will last hours." The military operation has caused civilian deaths and destroyed property — angering many eastern residents — while still failing to crush the rebellion. With votes from 80% of the precincts counted Monday, Poroshenko was leading with about 54% in the field of 21 candidates. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was running a distant second with 13%. If those results hold, Poroshenko would avoid a runoff election next month. A group of European election monitors said Monday that while masked gunmen intimidated votes in eastern regions and kept the turnout low that the overall voting met international standards. Officials did note problems in the east, especially in Donetsk and Luhansk, where masked gunmen intimidated voters by smashing ballot boxes, shutting down polling centers and issuing threats. Less than 20% of polling places were open in the eastern regions, officials said. In Luhansk, voting did not take place in 10 of 12 election districts and 14 of 22 in Donestk, officials said. But nationwide, about 60% of Ukraine's 35.5 million eligible voters turned out Sunday, and long lines snaked around polling stations in the pro-Western capital, Kiev. "The electoral and security authorities of Ukraine should be commended for their efforts — under extraordinary circumstances — to facilitate an election that largely upheld democratic commitments," Joao Soares, the short-term mission coordinator for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Monday. One official told reporters that the fact that separatist groups tried to keep voters away from Sunday's election showed that their claims that voters supported their own referendum vote for independence was bogus. Even before the Donetsk airport takeover, the president-elect also had harsh words for the pro-Russia gunmen, comparing them to Somalia pirates. "Their goal is to turn Donbass into a Somalia where they would rule with the power of machine guns. l will never allow that to happen on the territory of Ukraine," Poroshenko said, adding he hoped Russia would support his efforts to stabilize the east. In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia appreciated Poroshenko's statements about the importance of Ukraine's ties with Russia and his pledge to negotiate an end to fighting in the east. He also noted Russia's longstanding call for the Kiev government to end its military operation in eastern Ukraine. "We are ready for dialogue with representatives of Kiev, with Petro Poroshenko," Lavrov said at a briefing, adding it was a chance that "cannot be wasted." He emphasized that Moscow saw no need for any involvement by the United States or the European Union in those talks. "We don't need any mediators," he said pointedly. Speaking to reporters, Poroshenko struck a tone of unity Monday, saying he had no "rivals or political opponents in the race" and all of the other main candidates have congratulated him on his win. "More than ever, Ukraine now needs to be united," he said. Mykhaylo Okhendovsky, chairman of the Central Election Commission, said official results of Sunday's vote would be announced by June 5. The election, which came three months after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was chased from office by crowds following months of street protests and allegations of corruption, was seen as a critical step toward resolving Ukraine's protracted crisis. Since his ouster in February, Russia has annexed the Crimea Peninsula in southern Ukraine, the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk have declared their independence from Kiev, and the interim Ukrainian government has launched an offensive in the east to quash an uprising. The interim Kiev government and the West have accused Russia of backing the separatist uprising. Moscow has denied the accusations. Unlike many other Ukrainian billionaires, Poroshenko did not make his fortune in murky post-Soviet privatizations but instead built his chocolate empire from scratch. His Willy Wonka-like chocolate stores and candies are on sale in every kiosk across the country, helping lead to the perception that he is the "good tycoon." Many voters appreciate Poroshenko's pragmatism and his apparent knack for compromise. President Obama praised Ukrainians for participating in the voting "despite provocations and violence." Obama said the U.S. supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, rejects Russia's "occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea" and is eager to work with the next president. Contributing: Associated Press Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1k8uTZf |
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