Officials have finally revealed the identity of the shooter that killed a woman in Minnesota before driving 2,000 miles to UCLA to shoot a professor and killing himself. Mainak Sarkar, age 38, a Muslim from India, a student at UCLA with a PhD in solid mechanics killed his professor, William Klug, on Wednesday. Police later discovered the body of Ashley Hasti, Sarkar’s estranged wife, in her Minnesota home.
On Wednesday, police locked down UCLA for two hours after Sarkar shot and killed his engineering professor Klug, 39, at a small office on the campus. He fatally shot himself after the killing, police said, leaving behind a note asking someone to feed his cat.
On the list was Ashley Hasti, 31. A registered marriage license listed Sarkar and Hasti as being married in 2011. They were not living together at the time of the attack but it is not known if they were divorced.
Breaking: Police search Brooklyn Park home, residents tell @AshleyRobertsTV connected to #UCLA shooter Mainak Sarkar pic.twitter.com/QnFLecWNF7
— Guy Still (@mplstvguy) June 2, 2016
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told reporters on Thursday that Sarkar was armed with two 9 mm pistols and multiple ammunition clips. He killed himself immediately after fatally shooting Klug, he said. The guns were purchased legally and at least one was registered to Sarkar. A search of his home revealed more ammunition.
Police discovered a “kill list” of intended victims at Sarkar’s home, which included another UCLA professor who was off-campus at the time of the shooting and was unharmed.
“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.”
In 2014 in a doctoral commencement booklet listing Klug as Sarkar’s advisor, he wrote to wrote to his victim/professor, “Thank you for being my mentor”. In a bog believed to have been written by Sarkar in March, he called Klug ” a really sick person”. He warned new students to, “stay away from him”.
“He cleverly stole all my code and gave it to another student. Your enemy is your enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm,” he wrote.
Police interviewed other faculty members, who stated they were aware of Sarkar’s anger towards them.
“There was some harsh language but certainly nothing that would be considered homicidal,” Beck said. Faculty cited postings on social media by Sarkar. The motive for killing Hasti was still unclear, Beck said. Her body was discovered when police went to check on her in response to the UCLA shooting.
Prior to his time at UCLA, from 2003 to 2005 Sarkar attended Stanford University, where he received a master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, university spokeswoman Lisa Lapin said.
Klug left behind a wife and two children. He wrote a deeply touching piece in an article for Westmont University Magazine:
“Knowing there is a God responsible for the world makes a big difference in my motivation to understand it better. I developed a habit of relying on God for what I felt was beyond my ability to control or what I couldn’t do for myself,” he says. “It helps me keep things in the right perspective.”
