POOL PARTY GUNMAN CALLED EX-LOVER DURING RAMPAGE

Depressed over break-up, he wanted woman to hear him shoot victims

SAN DIEGO

APOOL party was in full swing when a lone man, who was reclining on a lounge chair with a blank expression, pulled out a gun from his waistband and began shooting.

As bodies fell on the pool deck and people ran for their lives, the gunman, crestfallen over a break-up, dialled up his ex-girlfriend so she could listen as he continued firing at strangers.

Although Peter Selis, 49, was white, all but one of the victims were black and Latino, said San Diego police chief Shelley Zimmerman on Monday, adding that there was “zero indication” race was a motive.

Instead, the attack that killed one woman and injured six seemed to be driven by a recent split with the woman he called after he shot his first two victims.

“It is apparent that Selis wanted his ex-girlfriend to listen in as he carried out his rampage. These victims were just in his vicinity when he committed this terrible tragedy.”

He was gunned down in a shootout with police on Sunday at the upscale La Jolla Crossroads apartment complex.

Less than an hour earlier, Selis had stood out from the crowd of about 35 as he sat alone in the pool area of the apartment complex.

He sat by the pool gate wearing a heavy black jacket on a hot day, said Demetrius Griffin, a guest at the party. The shooting began after the man celebrating his 50th birthday approached Selis.

Griffin said his friend, who was always welcoming, had invited the man to join the fun. Instead, he said, Selis pulled a gun from his waistband and shot the party host twice in the torso.

Griffin froze and then dropped to the ground as six rounds sent people scattering and dropped others on the pool deck.

Selis called his ex-girlfriend during the shooting and told her that he had shot two people. The woman heard two more gunshots before the line went dead.

Selis, a father who worked as a Ford dealership mechanic, had been depressed after a breakup just days before, though family and friends interviewed by police had no hint of any sinister plot.

He filed for federal bankruptcy protection in October 2015, listing US$14,000 (RM60,500) in assets and US$108,000 in liabilities. AP

AGENCY PIX Investigators looking at the bloody crime scene at the apartment complex in San Diego on Monday after Peter Selis (inset) opened fire on a birthday party.