Mainak Sarkar has been identified as the gunman of yesterday’s UCLA shooting. Police confirmed that Sarkar used a 9mm semi-automatic pistol to kill 39-year-old engineering professor William Scott Klug in an office, then took his own life. Police continue to search for a motive, but one remains relatively clear; Sarkar had a personal vendetta against his victim.
Before the shooting, Sarkar wrote a post on his blog LongDarkTunnel expressing his contempt for the professor. The article was immediately deleted, but a screenshot was taken:
Messages about the shooter started circulating shortly after the school went on lockdown:
UCLA officials are currently reviewing safety protocols, as they had to learn the hard way that there were problems with the doors around campus. To protect themselves, students barricaded themselves indoors using chairs, power cords, and a foosball table.
Sarkar worked as an engineering analyst for Endurica LLC and graduated from UCLA with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2013. While at UCLA he worked as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses in Mechanical Engineering, including Finite Element Analysis, Statics and Dynamics, Applied Mathematics. Prior to getting his PhD, Sarkar graduated from Stanford University with a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2005. Five years before he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur with a degree in Aerospace Engineering.