US killer ‘streamed shooting spree live on social media’
THE former US marine who shot 12 people as they were dancing in a bar streamed his killing spree live on social media, it was claimed last night.
Ian Long reportedly held his gun in one hand and phone in the other as he rampaged through the Borderline Bar and Grill in California.
Investigators are said to have made the grim discovery that Long, 28, had broadcast the atrocities on Instagram just hours after the bloodbath in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday night, according to American website TMZ.
Long, who is believed to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after
‘I want gun control. No more guns’
serving in Afghanistan, also reportedly boasted about what he was about to do on Facebook.
The message, which contained laughing emojis, read: ‘I hope people call me insane… Wouldn’t that just be a big ball of irony? Yeah... I’m insane, but the only thing you people do after these shootings is “hopes and prayers” or “keep you in my thoughts”... Every time... and wonder why these keep happening...’
As details of the post emerged, the mother of a 27-year-old man killed in the attack launched a rage-fuelled plea about gun control in America. Last year, Susan Schmidt-Orfanos’s son Telemachus had been at a music festival in Las Vegas when fanatic Stephen Paddock sprayed the crowd with bullets and killed 58 people. Telemachus made it out alive.
Mrs Schmidt-Orfanos said: ‘My son was in Las Vegas with a lot of his friends, and he came home. He didn’t come home last night.
‘I don’t want prayers, I want gun control and I hope to God nobody else sends me any more prayers. I want gun control.’
Mr Orfanos’s father Marc added: ‘It’s particularly ironic that after surviving the worst mass shooting in modern history, he was killed in his home town.’
As families paid tributes to their loved ones, it emerged that when Long was asked about his ‘future goals’ after leaving school, and what he expected from life outside of baseball – a sport he had hoped to play professionally – Long had answered: ‘Death.’ In recent years, Long would go to the Borderline bar to drink with friends and listen to music. He enjoyed the bar so much he would often try to drag others there, a friend claimed.
Meanwhile, an athletics coach who taught Long in high school disputed claims that his problems stemmed from PTSD. Dominique Colell said: ‘It is not PTSD. This kid was mentally disturbed in high school.’