Rampage gunman was ‘heavily armed’
WASHINGTON — A 23-yearold gunman who went on a deadly shooting rampage through the Californian city of Santa Monica on Friday was carrying 1,300 rounds of ammunition and was “ready for battle,” police said.
The gunman, identified by several sources as John Zawahri, killed his brother Chris, 25, and father Samir, 55, before setting fire to their house and setting out on a random killing spree, claiming three other victims.
After killing two members of his family on Friday afternoon, he forced a woman to to let him into her car at gunpoint.
Laura Sisk, 41, told the Los Angeles Times she initially thought the gunman was a Secret Service agent because U.S. President Barack Obama was attending a nearby fundraiser. She realized she was being carjacked as Zawahri started firing at a passersby and then at a bus, wounding three people.
He made her drive to the university campus where he was once enrolled and let her go.
There he opened fire on a car, killing Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, and critically wounding his 26-year-old daughter Marcela, who died Sunday.
The woman died of her injuries at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to Santa Monica College spokeswoman Tricia Ramos.
He killed another woman on campus before bursting into the library and firing at least 70 shots. Police officers killed him inside the library, ending a 13-minute rampage.
After being shot dead by police, officers discovered he was carrying 1,300 rounds of ammunition, a semi-automatic rifle, and body armour.
“He heavily armed himself and he was ready for battle,” said Sergeant Richard Lewis of Santa Monica police.
The gunman appears to have used an AR-15, the same semiautomatic rifle used in the massacres at a Colorado cinema and Connecticut’s Sandy Hook primary school.
Authorities said he would have embarked on a larger rampage had he not been killed in Santa Monica College. Zawahri, who was due to turn 24 on Saturday, reportedly had severe mental health issues. Sources said he had struggled with his parents’ divorce.