'Kill list' found in UCLA campus shooter's residence: Police

Mainak Sarkar, who killed a UCLA professor and took his own life, also killed a woman found at this house pictured in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, north of Minneapolis, police said on June 2, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles police announced on Thursday the shooter who killed a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) appears to have also killed a woman in Minnesota and more than one UCLA professors are on the gunman's "kill list".

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck said the list found in the home of the shooter, Mainak Sarkar, in St. Paul, Minnesota, included three names: the woman in Minnesota; UCLA professor William Scott Klug, who was killed Wednesday; and another UCLA professor, who was not injured.

Beck declined to give the names of the woman or the other professor.

A neighbor in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, identified the dead woman to local newspaper as Ashley Hasti, who may have been Sarkar's ex-girlfriend. The newspaper published a photo on its website of Hasti and Sarkar together.

Beck said Sarkar, 38, likely killed the woman in Minnesota several days ago, then drove to California in a 2003 gray Nissan Sentra with the Minnesota license plate. The car is still being sought in the UCLA area. He said although he believes the car does not present any danger, he urged anyone who recognizes it to report to the authority.

Beck said Sarkar was heavily armed at UCLA, carrying two semiautomatic pistols -- one that was used in the murder-suicide, and another in his backpack. He was also carrying multiple ammunition magazines and loose rounds of ammunition, indicating he was prepared to carry out more violence.

According to Beck, a note found by the bodies of Sarkar and Klug in a small office in UCLA's Boelter Hall "doesn't refer to suicide", but it included an instruction to check on Sarkar's cat -- leading authorities to his Minnesota residence and the "kill list", ultimately leading to the discovery of the woman's body.

Beck said investigators have spoken to the other professor on the list, and that person was aware of the online postings but did not believe they were an indication of any impending violence.

Sarkar was a Ph.D student and a current member of the Klug Research Group; Computational Biomechanics, at UCLA, according to a Klug Research Group publication.

The victim was identified as 39-year-old William Scott Klug, a father of two and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, students and his colleagues told Xinhua on site Wednesday.

Sarkar had accused the victim of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else, according to an online blog post he wrote on March 10, 2016, as "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", and "My name is Mainak Sarkar. I was this guy's PhD student. We had personal differences. He cleverly stole all my code and gave it to another student. He made me really sick."

However, some inside source told Los Angeles local newspaper that the gunman's claims about killed professor Klug were untrue and Klug helped a lot to make gunman whose work was not stellar to graduate.

The shooting happened shortly before 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday in Boelter Hall, which is part of the Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, according to the university.

The entire UCLA campus was placed on lockdown, along with three Los Angeles Unified School District elementary and middle schools nearby.

The UCLA authority canceled all the classes and activities Wednesday.

Scott Waugh, UCLA vice chancellor and provost, said on Wednesday campus operations would return to normal Thursday -- except for engineering classes, which will be canceled for the rest of the week.

This weekend's and next week's final exams would not be disrupted, he said.

UCLA officials said the university was offering counseling services to students and staff affected by the shooting.

The university has designated "healing spaces" on the campus where students can gather, and counselors will be available for students at the Counseling and Psychological Services office.