A former IIT Kharagpur, in eastern India and University of California,Los Angeles, graduate student shot dead a woman at her home in Minnesota before he drove almost 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to his alma mater, killed a professor and took his own life, police said on Thursday.
Mainak Sarkar, 38, had intended to kill a second professor in addition to engineering professor William Klug, 39, at a small office on the campus, prompting a two-hour long lockdown, police said.
Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck told reporters on Thursday that a search of Sarkar’s St. Paul, Minnesota, home turned up a “kill list” that included the name of the woman found dead nearby, as well as the name of the other UCLA professor, who was not harmed.
“We believe that Sarkar came to the Los Angeles area very recently, within the last couple of days,” Beck told reporters at Los Angeles police headquarters. “He went there to kill two faculty from UCLA. He was only able to find one.”
Sarkar, 38, had been armed with two 9mm pistols and multiple ammunition clips, Beck said. He killed himself immediately after fatally shooting Klug, Beck said.
Police searched Sarkar’s Minnesota home after finding a note at the Los Angeles crime scene asking for someone to check on his cat, Beck said.
“In the search of Sarkar’s residence in Minneapolis, a list was located,” Beck said. “The list has been described as a kill list, that was the wording that was put on it.”
The attack appeared to be provoked by Sarkar’s belief that Klug had stolen computer code from him, according to a March blog post that appears to be written by him.
“Your enemy is my enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm,” the post said. “Be careful about whom you trust.”
Reuters was not able to confirm the authenticity of the blog.
“UCLA says there is no truth to this,” Beck said of the alleged theft of code. “This was a making of his own imagination.”
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