UCLA murder-suicide: Gunman Mainak Sarkar had planned third killing

A former University of California, Los Angeles, student shot dead a woman at her home in Minnesota before he drove almost 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to the school and killed a professor but failed to find a third intended victim, police said on Thursday.

Mainak Sarkar, 38, had intended to kill a second professor in addition to shooting engineering professor William Klug, 39, at a small office on the campus, police said. He shot himself dead after the killing, police said. The shootings prompted a two-hour long lockdown on Wednesday.

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, Klug - who was Sarkar's professor at UCLA - and the name of another professor at the school, who was not harmed.
Officials would not release the name of the woman, whose body police said they found at a house in the 2400 block of Pearson Parkway in Brooklyn Park near Minneapolis.

A marriage license application obtained by Reuters lists a residence on that block as the home of Ashley Erin Hasti and Sarkar, who married in Minnesota in 2011.

Neighbors also said Hasti lived at the home.

Records do not show whether the couple, who appeared to have been living separately, were divorced.

An active Facebook page belonging to a Minneapolis-area woman named Ashley Hasti shows pictures of Sarkar, but not more recently than May of 2011, about two weeks before their marriage.

A page apparently belonging to him, with no public posts since 2011, still prominently displayed several photos of them together.

According to the birth date listed on the marriage license application, Hasti turned 31 in March.

"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."

The other professor was off campus at the time, Beck said.
Sarkar was armed with two 9 mm pistols and multiple ammunition clips, Beck said. He killed himself immediately after fatally shooting Klug, he 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 on Klug appeared to be provoked by Sarkar's belief that his former professor had stolen computer code from him, according to a March blog post that appeared to be written by Sarkar, Beck said.

"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."

The anger reflected in the March blog contrasted with earlier online records indicating Sarkar had gotten along with Klug. In a copy of his 2013 dissertation posted online, Sarkar thanked Klug.

"I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. William Klug, for all his help and support," Sarkar wrote.