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College Town: Mass Murder In Isla Vista, California

Aired May 24, 2014 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Don Lemon. It is 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

And we just heard a news conference on the mass shooting in California which was scheduled for right now, it has been delayed a little bit to 8:00. We're expecting that to happen at 8:00 Eastern. And, of course, we're going to carry that news conference for you live. It'll be the first news conference since the name Elliot Rodger was released as the man who opened fire from the driver's seat of his car killing six people in and around a college campus near Santa Barbara.

Elliot Rodger, the gunman is dead, as well. Police found him after his car crashed. He had a bullet wound. It's not clear yet whether he turned the gun on himself or whether he was shot by police in the firefight. Again, we're going to get a lot more details from the sheriff and law enforcement top of the hour to schedule a news conference happening at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Also, we have been going through this. A 140-page manifesto that our reporters here and at our affiliate TV station say they received from Elliot Rodger. This is the story of his life.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Isla Vista, California, right now. Our justice reporter Evan Perez in Washington.

Kyung, you first, I don't know if you had a chance to even look at this. But we're just learning that our affiliates, they -- our affiliates are reporting that there were bodies found in the shooter's home, as well.

CNN is still trying to confirm it. What are you hearing?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was actually outside that apartment complex just a few minutes ago. It's actually just about three or four blocks from where I'm standing. And at this apartment complex, it is very much a crime scene. This is where we believe the shooter did live. We have not gotten that confirmation from the police.

But what we can tell you is that other residents who live there say that the shooter lived there and that people who were nearby counted at least three bodies being removed from this apartment. So, that's what we know so far about where this shooter we suspect the shooter may have been living. That would be in this exact area where he chose to do his rampage. And it is through this college town, through this sleepy area where there are so many student apartments that there were bullets unloaded throughout a several block area, ending in a BMW crashing into a van.

Here's what one witness told us.

We apparently don't have that sound.

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: I want to be clear -- go ahead. Go ahead.

LAH: What the witness was saying, when it ended, it was violent, a gun battle, and that he saw the shooter eventually being pulled out. He wasn't sure he was alive at the end of it. So, it was extraordinarily violent through the town as well, at the end, Deb.

FEYERICK: Kyung, I want to be very clear about this. Are you now saying that we know there are six people who the gunman allegedly shot to death are you saying there's another crime scene where there may be additional bodies?

LAH: No, what I'm saying --

FEYERICK: OK.

LAH: -- is that out of the six, we believe that three originated inside the shooter's suspected apartment. Now, that's what we're hearing from witnesses. We can tell you there's a crime scene there. And we understand that's where he lived and there are numerous people who did see at least three bodies being removed from inside this one apartment. So, there may have been three other people who were killed during this rampage on the streets.

And it's terrible to think about the people killed and injured. But if you look at how busy this street was, 9:30 in the evening Friday, when these streets are so filled with students, it could have been -- it could have even been worse.

So, it's extraordinary when you think of those numbers, Deb.

FEYERICK: Oh my God.

And we heard from a relative of one of the victims, Christopher Martinez and the grief and the pain the anguish was just palpable. Just horrifying what these families now are wrestling with. And he was very forceful. He said, what about Chris' right to live? What about Chris' right to live?

Evan Perez is in Washington, D.C., with the latest on the investigation. Clearly, the folks there in Washington keeping a very good line of communication open between them and law enforcement in California. What are you hearing on word of a possible background check?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deb, we know that the local police were asking for help from the federal law enforcement to check to see where this gunman obtained his firearm. We know that based on his background, there was nothing that would've prevented him from buying any firearms. He passed a background check when he purchased his firearm. So we know that much at this point.

To clarify again on Kyung's point, the police in Santa Barbara last night in the press conference never said exactly where the victims of the rampage were. We believe and police believe that at least three were in the gunman's apartment. And so that now is becoming more clear with the -- with the witnesses seeing three bodies being taken out of his apartment. Obviously, there's going to be a lot more that the police are going to be able to tell us at the top of the hour with their press conference.

But we know, for instance, that despite the fact that he had written all these manifestos and these online postings and these videos that he posted on YouTube, none of this really came to the attention of certainly of federal law enforcement. And apparently the family members did go to the police, the local authorities to express some concern, but it wasn't enough to do anything about it. Because unless he does something that's violent or something that indicates that he had some intent, it's very difficult to do very much about this, Deb.

FEYERICK: Yes, certainly, and that's something we're absolutely going to learn a lot more about. And it's interesting, Evan, because we were under the impression given that he was basically riding down this very crowded street that some of the victims would have been there, would have been sort of enjoying the evening. But interesting now that the dynamic has shifted if there were three people who are believed to have been shot and killed in his apartment and then three other sorority girls that a witness has described or three other girls, I should say, apologize who were on the lawn. It takes on an even more diabolical cast.

PEREZ: That's right.

FEYERICK: Last hour -- there's no question.

All right. We're going to have you stick around. We're having that press conference that's going to be coming up. There's going to be a lot more information released at that time within the hour at the top of 8:00.

Last hour, however, we did hear from Richard Martinez. He's the father of one of last night's victim, Christopher Ross Martinez. The father spoke in Isla Vista. He spoke passionately, lovingly, and movingly about his son. He had very strong words for the NRA and for politicians.

CNN's Sara Sidner now from Isla Vista with more.

And, Sara, I think everybody who saw that press conference had a major sort of lump in their throat, understanding what has completely now been taken away.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, he stood up and no one was expecting it. He came out and he broke down in tears twice and then after he left, he broke down again. He was sending a message, really, to families.

He says, you think it can't happen to you? Well, it can. It happened to us. My son Christopher is dead. He died last night.

Now, we understand that Christopher is 20 years old, that he was going to get food at a market and he was killed then. He never made it to the hospital. I want to let you listen to his father Richard Martinez who was choked up several times and completely distraught as he tried to describe how he felt and what happened to his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MARTINEZ, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: I'm going to try to get through this. My name is Richard Martinez, regular spelling M-A-R-T- I-N-E-Z, Richard. My son's name was Christopher Ross Martinez, he was 20 years old and he died last night.

I've written out a statement that was prepared by the family. Our son Christopher Martinez and six others are dead. Our family -- our family has a message for everybody parent out there. You don't think it'll happen to your child until it does. Chris was a really great kid, ask anyone who knew him. His death has left our family lost and broken.

Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?

When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say stop this madness! We don't have to live like this! Too many have died! We should say to ourselves, not one more!

Thank you. That's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, when he walked away, he broke down again in tears, but he did continue to talk about his son for just a bit, saying that he was a kid that was doing so well in school. He was nearing a 4.0, and he just can't understand how his son has gone, that he is dead. And you heard who he blamed there. Very strong words from Richard Martinez who lost his 20-year-old son Christopher Ross Martinez.

FEYERICK: And you know, Sara, you hear the anger. That is a man who has had the heart completely ripped out of him. To watch is it just incredible. And nobody should forget just the pain that all the victims are feeling.

Sara Sidner for us there in Isla Vista, California.

One question, though, Sara. You also spoke to somebody earlier who said there were two bodies. And another young girl who was also -- and that, too, now we're hearing the possibility there may have been people killed inside his apartment. That -- they're two different things, correct?

SIDNER: No, actually, we know that there are six people -- six victims who were killed and then, of course, the shooter the authorities said is also dead. So that makes seven.

Now, we haven't heard that number has gone up. But we do know that in the next 45 minutes, we're going to be hearing, again, from the sheriff's department. So, we'll get updated information. So far, the information we have is that there were seven people killed in this instant. And I do want to talk to you a little bit about what we heard.

An incredible description of what one witness saw. Kyle Sullivan, 19 years old, first-year student, saw three girls gunned down. They were lying outside of a sorority, he came up to them, noticed one was clearly dead. The other was dying before his eyes, she died while he was there trying to help them and a third was on the phone with her mother telling her mother she wasn't sure she was going to make it.

So, it has been an extremely emotional time. We do know that the two girls were there, he said they had died. But he thought that the third girl would make it. So, at this point, we still only know about seven people killed, including the shooter.

FEYERICK: All right. All right.

Sara Sidner, thank you so much. And clearly we know that you're going to be all over that press conference. And we'll be interested to see what law enforcement is finding out. All right, thanks so much. We're going to come back to you.

Coming up, you're going to hear the YouTube posts from the alleged shooter, posts that offer an eerie glimpse inside his mindset. That coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: The gunman, the alleged killer, Elliot Rodger, posted numerous videos to a YouTube page just days before he allegedly went on the shooting rampage which left seven people dead in California, the seventh being himself. We don't know whether if he took his own life or whether killed by a sheriff's deputy. They offer an eerie glimpse into his mindset, arguably the mindset of a madman.

I want to read transcripts from some of those videos now. This is from one which he titled "Elliot Rodger: Lonely blog, life is so unfair."

And his description, he says of the video, I take my usual walk at the golf course while I explain how unfair my life has been. He said, quote, "I used to come here to watch the sunset, my usual sunset spot, usually because there was rarely any young couples here that I would get jealous of. I love this walk right down the parking lot towards the setting sun. It's my last enjoyment in life. I can't enjoy anything else. My life is so lonely and mundane. I have no friends, no girlfriends, no love, no sex. All I have is this being able to walk in beautiful places like this."

And he continues. He had a lot to say, and he wrote a lot of it down.

Quote, "Sex. Love. Companionship. I desire those things. I desire girls. I'm sexually attracted to girls. Girls are not sexually attracted to me. There's a problem with that, a major problem, that's a problem I plan to rectify. I will not let this fly. It's an injustice that needs to be dealt with."

Here's another transcript of a video that he also posted on YouTube. This one titled, "Being lonely on spring break."

And he writes, quote, "I'm just contemplating about my life and how unfair it's been lately, how it's been unfair for the last eight years. Ever since I hit puberty, ever since I started desiring girls but they never desired me back. Life has been a living hell since then, I've been all alone. Right now, it's spring break and everyone else my age is out having fun with their friends and their girlfriends. Here I am taking lonely walks through a park."

We're going to go back to our panel to talk about some of these issues and what they say. This, let's be clear, was a young man of extraordinary privilege, OK? Maybe not everything in his life was perfect. He is a kid who was educated in England. He lived in Spain, in Morocco. His father was a pretty big deal in the world of commercial.

So, it's more, though, than just some lonely, pathetic, entitled kid whining. And we have 140 pages of a manifesto to show that.

The one thing, Jeff, that you and I have been talking about. And this is what is so chilling to me because he talks about girls and sex and girls and sex and girls and sex. But when you look at the last page of the manifesto, it's chilling.

He says, "Women are like a plague, they don't deserve to have any rights." And then he also says that he plans to quarantine all women in concentration camps and starve them to death and then you'd only keep a few for the sake of reproduction which would be done artificially.

How can you say you love women and then want to just wipe them out?

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, because the women became part of his delusional thinking. They became the fault for everything that was wrong in his life. Why he was wronged by these women, comes very early in his life.

I wonder what was going on with his mother, the relationship that he had with his father. When we look at these personality issues and, here, a very severe personality issue, with the delusional thinking, as part of that, you have to look at what happened with the family, what was the family structure and where he is right now.

He went from being someone with a lot of hatred, with a lot of resentment, to someone who was delusional and had wanted to kill people, wanted to starve people, put them in concentration camps. And he wanted to do this to women.

FEYERICK: Which is just incredible. So clearly, this is a kid who was -- 22 years old. He was not a kid, but he was messed up. He had some really, really serious problems that medication did not seem to be fixing.

GARDERE: Well, we don't use medication for working with personality issues, especially severe personality issues.

You have to be clear here. These are individuals who fit -- who believe that the world must fit their view. If it doesn't, then everyone is rejected. Everyone is blamed. It's their fault, you don't live in his universe.

He created his own world. He lived in his own world. And if you didn't play by his rules, you were the enemy. That's why we see this manifesto so detailed. It's about his planet, and we're just living on it.

FEYERICK: Yes. My twisted world, the story of Elliot Rodger, and he wrote it out.

GARDERE: That's right. And came up with what he felt was the perfect ending, the annihilation of others, especially women.

FEYERICK: Yes, that's how it ended.

OK. We have so much coming up. We've got our panel standing by.

We're going to start talking about the reaction of one of the fathers. One of the fathers who rails against the NRA, against gun rights and against politicians who seem to be doing absolutely nothing to stem the tide of gun violence.

Back after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, we are continuing to follow that deadly shooting near Santa Barbara, California that left six people and the gunman dead and 11 others injured. One of them, we are told, has undergone surgery for broken legs.

Rampage shootings like this are becoming way too common. We have covered them over and over and over again. There have been several in just the past 18 months.

In January, a 19-year-old gunned down two workers in his skate shop in the mall in Columbia, Maryland. The shooter then killed himself.

Last November 1st, police say 23-year-old Paul Ciancia walked into terminal 3 of Los Angeles International Airport. He shot and killed, allegedly a TSA officer. Two other TSA officers and another man were also wounded.

Then, there's September. September 16th, 2013, 12 people were gunned down at the Navy yard in Washington, D.C. The shooter, Aaron Alexis, was also killed.

June 7th, 2013, police say John Zawahiri killed six people in Santa Monica, California. The shooting spree ended inside the library of Santa Monica College, where the shooter died.

And on December 14th, 2012, Newton, Connecticut, we all remember, Adam Lanza gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself. Police later found Lanza's mom who had been shot to death in her bed. She was her first victim.

And in the 12 months before Sandy Hook, 25 people have been killed, 65 have been hurt. The Aurora, Colorado, movie theater and an university in Oakland, California.

The question, when does it stop? How does it stop?

My panel back with me, Jeff Gardere, Holly Hughes, Brian Claypool, Lou Palumbo.

Lou, I want to start with you. You and I have had multiple conversations about this. But let's be clear, OK. We can talk about mental health. But there's got to be a way that crazy people don't get guns because what it seems like they're doing is they are killing people just so they can end up killing themselves. Death by cop is I think what they call it, Lou. How do we get our head around this?

LOU PALUMBO, RETIRED LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT: Well, you know, I've spoken to this numerous times. And the interesting thing is that the very thing that I suggest, I actually experienced.

For example, I've had a home and an office for my business in southern California for a number of years. I resided in Manhattan Beach. I applied for a concealed weapons permit, business related. And I was granted one.

The interesting thing was I was mandated by then chief Ernie Clavershill (ph), great guy, very confident, to undergo psychiatric evaluation, Minnesota multi-face screening, raw shock, word association, and an interview. And that was to get the initial permit and every two years to get the renewal. I know this works.

And I think what we need to do is come to terms or come to some type of common ground which is an acknowledgment that firearms are here to stay. We need to get in the real world. And now how do we manage them? It can be done.

Manhattan Beach Police Department proved it. The rest of this, we can talk in circles. We're not problem solving. You have to have an intelligent, middle-of-the-road compromise here.

FEYERICK: Right. But there are a lot of laws already on the books in terms of who gets a firearm, how they get a firearm. I don't know whether it's a question of whether we need more laws or need ones that are actually effective and actually work when it comes to people with personality disorders, as Jeff has been talking about, people who have psychoses not getting their hands on these guns. Holly Hughes, you are a defense attorney, Brian Claypool, you too, the question -- how do we stop these people from doing this?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: OK. I'll go first.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, ATTORNEY: Deborah -- go ahead, Holly.

(CROSSTALK)

CLAYPOOL: Ladies before gentlemen.

HUGHES: Well, thank you very much. What you need to do is to give access to this information. You need to allow. There have to be changes in the current laws.

Let's face it. When we go for a driver's license, we have to give up our history. Do we wear eyeglasses? We give up medical information. Do we wear hearing aids? Do we have epilepsy?

There are times when we are looking for a privilege, the privilege to have a license and drive on the road as everybody else, where we have to give out that information. So why not do that, you know, when you're going to apply.

Lou has said it over and over. Guns are here to stay, but it is the dangerous combination of mental illness and guns together that is the problem. Guns by themselves aren't the problem, mental illness by themselves aren't the problem. When you match them together, that becomes a problem.

So, there has to be a way for people applying for a permit to not just self-report because let's face it, they're not going to go in there and say, "Yes, I've been institutionalized", but there has to be a way to change the HIPAA laws and the laws that are currently on the books where that can be checked in a database. And if you want the right and the privilege to carry a gun with a license, just like with the driver's license, you're going to have to give up a little information.

FEYERICK: So Brian, look - one second, Lou. Brian, we're expecting a press conference that's going to happen within the half hour. Law enforcement, the sheriff's deputies, a lot of other people who are going to be there. Hopefully giving us more information. There is information that the family did go to authorities to try to get help because the videos that Elliott Rodger were posting were so disturbing.

What is the family's responsibility? Did they do everything they possibly could have? Because, look, we know how this ends. People are going to start pointing fingers and they may start pointing fingers at the family who may have felt as helpless, you know, as everybody else.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Deborah, I think this is a critical point. We need to find out what exactly did the family communicate to the police department? That is monumental. We live in a different society. After Sandy Hook, after Aurora, after all the mass shootings, you identify. We are never going to be able to get rid of guns.

But one thing we can do is work from the inner core. Who are people closest to those who want to commit mass destruction? And if those people are reporting it to law enforcement, then I think there's a real problem if an investigation wasn't done. Let me read you something quick if I may, Deborah. In that YouTube video, Elliott Rodgers said "on the day of the retribution, I'm going to the hottest sorority house at UCSB, University of California Santa Barbara and I will slaughter every single, spoiled, stuck up blond, you know what, that I see inside that house."

Now, you tell me that you have a YouTube video that says that. If you get that to law enforcement, there is no excuse for law enforcement to not immediately go over and apprehend Elliott Rodger and then do some due diligence, get him mental help and you could possibly stop there.

FEYERICK: Lou, go ahead.

LOU PALUMBO, RETIRED LAW ENFORCEMENT EXPERT: You're absolutely correct, sir. Excuse me. You're absolutely correct. Based on this statement that you made. If those conditions or circumstances did, in fact, exists, law enforcement would have been licensed to go out and address this young man. But the fact of the matter is, we need to determine if, in fact, they were in possession of a YouTube tape of this type or any type of correspondence. You know, not for anything, Brian, but it looks like you want to put the finger on law enforcement on this. And believe this or not, it's not as easy for us to navigate as (INAUDIBLE) as you think.

FEYERICK: All right. Gentlemen -

CLAYPOOL: They had time to do their job, Lou. If they have time -

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: Look - there's such a thing - there's such a thing as personal responsibility.

PALUMBO: I agree.

FEYERICK: Let us not take our eyes off the one person who is singularly responsible for these murders, these deaths, and that is the alleged gunman. Nobody pulled the trigger but him, nobody wrote this crazy manifesto but him.

There's got - we have to stop blaming each other and look at what can be done to hopefully prevent it. OK. Our special coverage - hold on.

The special coverage, shooting in Isla Vista, Talk to me on the break, Lou, is going to continue right after this but our panel is going to be standing by and we're waiting for that press conference coming up in just half an hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, we are continuing to follow breaking news. Seven people dead, including the gunman, 11 others hurt after a shooting rampage in a California college town. It all unfolded in the town of Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara in just 10 minutes of sheer and absolute terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shot fired, shot fired.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He lifted up, little black pistol. And I just thought it was like an airsoft gun or something. I was like, hey, what's up? And I turned around and I started walking the other way. And - he shot and I felt like - I felt the wind pass right by my face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Multiple gun shot victims in front about - IV deli.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was right outside a restaurant, in front of a convenience store called IV Deli Mart. There were maybe a group of six, seven, eight people eating out in front of it and stopped in front of them and he just started firing in front of us and firing on the group.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need a second ambulance for another gunshot wound (INAUDIBLE), code three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was another gunshot (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a girl right here. And she was really, really struggling. You could tell she was just barely able to move her eyes. And there was another girl right here, and she was kind of like laying down crouched. She immediately got on the phone with her mother and was telling her mother about how much she loved her and she wasn't sure she was going to make it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to a witness, it was a dark colored BMW, white occupant, a male wearing a white shirt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a loud crash, and about, you know, close to 30 rounds of gunfire. And I looked outside and I saw the BMW had crashed into parked cars on the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the car passed right by me and my friend, barely nicked her and then hit the guy right behind us, like literally from the street to the sidewalk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw one cop rush to the car. The policeman cleared out the car. I saw the driver get pulled out. He looked very hurt. I mean, to me, he's either unconscious or already dead.

SHERIFF BILL BROWN, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: Currently, the sheriff's office is not looking for any additional suspects. We believe the suspect acted alone. This incident appears to be a mass murder situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: And last hour, Richard Martinez, the father of one of last night's victims, Christopher Ross Martinez spoke in Isla Vista. He spoke movingly and passionately about his son and he has some very strong words for the NRA and for the politicians. CNN's Sara Sidner joins me now from Isla Vista with more and Sara, what did he have to say?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, he could barely get through it without breaking down, he had very strong words for other parents, for politicians, and for the Martinez family themselves. He lost his 20- year-old son, Christopher Ross Martinez. He said you never think it's going to happen to you until it does. He said his son died last night, he couldn't even make it to the hospital. He died while he was trying to get something to eat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MARTINEZ, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: I'm going to try to get through this. My name is Richard Martinez. Regular spelling, M-A-R-T- I-N-E-Z. Richard, my son's name was Christopher Ross Martinez, he was 20 years old and he died last night.

I've written out a statement that was prepared by the family. Our son, Christopher Martinez and six others are dead. Our family - our family has a message for every parent out there. You don't think it'll happen to your child until it does. Chris was a really great kid. Ask anyone who knew him. His death has left our family lost and broken. Why did Chris die?

Chris died because of craven irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights, what about Chris's right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say stop this madness, we don't have to live like this! Too many have died! We should say to ourselves, not one more! Thank you. That's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, when he walked off, he literally broke down in tears. He could not stop himself. And you hear there it's going to bring that debate back up about gun rights here in America. But we also talked to someone who was a witness, someone who went to the scene and saw three girls who were lying on the grass outside of a sorority and described to us what he saw.

His name is Kyle Sullivan, just 19 years old, a first-year student, came here from Hawaii expecting to have a great time as a student and do very well in school. He heard gun shots as he was inside a fraternity and came downstairs, heard more gun shots. He looked across the street and saw these three girls, walked up to them and saw at least two of them die before him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): Can you tell me, what did you see?

KYLE SULLIVAN, STUDENT AT SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE: Well, I was leaving the fraternity right there, and I heard the gunshots and I recognized the sound of a gun. I've shot a gun before. So I waited and then I heard more gunshots and then after about like 30 seconds, I came around the corner right here.

SIDNER: So you're there at the fraternity.

SULLIVAN: Yes.

SIDNER: You're just down the street.

SULLIVAN: Yes.

SIDNER: And you come around the corner after hearing gunshots, what did you see?

SULLIVAN: OK. So I came up and basically, there was a young girl laying right here. And she was - I could just tell immediately that she was gone. I saw a gunshot wound to her abdomen and like on her side, and also one to her head. So you could tell that she wasn't bleeding anymore, that she was gone. There was another girl right here.

SIDNER: My god, there were more than one?

SULLIVAN: There was three girls, yes

SIDNER: Three girls.

SULLIVAN: There was a girl right here. She was really, really struggling. You could tell she was just barely able to move her eyes. And just moving her arms slightly. And then there was another girl right here. And she was kind of laying down crouched. She was still conscious. She was talking. She immediately got on the phone with her mother. And was telling her mother about how much she loved her and she wasn't sure that she was going to make it. And then it probably took about a minute or two and the one right here passed away.

SIDNER: What were you doing right here this whole time as you were looking at this terribly grizzly scene?

SULLIVAN: I was in complete shock. I walked up and about three other people came from this angle. I didn't realize that this was real life at all.

SIDNER: Were you trying to talk to them? Did they say anything to you? Did you hear?

SULLIVAN: Yes, I was talking to the one on the phone because I could tell she said that she got shot in the kidney. And I could see that she had shots to her arm. So I could tell that she was probably going to make it. So i was telling her that she was going to be OK. I spoke to her mother real quick. I told her mother that she was probably going to make it.

We saw a police officer right down there by free birds, so we brought him over here immediately and he held her and was holding her wounds to stop the bleeding. And then I asked the police officer if we were safe staying here. Just because of, you know - that there was a person driving around shooting people, and he said that we should - yes, that we were OK, and literally like 20 seconds after that, we heard the next shots at the market over there.

And that's when he basically yelled at everyone and told them to run indoors and I ran back to the fraternity, and I, like, ran down the street and told everyone to go indoors, and people were just locking themselves in.

SIDNER: I noticed that your voice is still shaking. You're still trying to process all this.

SULLIVAN: Yes, it was a huge shock last night. I really wasn't able to sleep at all. It was heartbreaking. That something would happen in our community like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: He saw three of the seven people shot, of course, one of those people is also the suspect. And he said he didn't sleep all night because he was online watching those videos of the alleged suspect Elliott Rodger over and over trying to find what it was that created this horrific scene and has made everybody on campus extremely nervous. Deborah?

FEYERICK: All right. Sara Sidner, we see also they are getting ready for that press conference to happen just behind you. Of course, we're going to carry that live, we believe it's going to happen in the next 20 minutes. Stay with us, everyone, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: It was supposed to be a fun Friday night. Memorial Day weekend just weeks ahead of graduation, final exams and the start of summer break. But instead, the college community of UC Santa Barbara is in mourning trying to cope with a brutal shooting spree in the heart of their town. Nick Valencia has reaction from the UCSB campus. Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: Deb, we are hearing from so many in the Isla Vista community - those who were impacted, or those who may have been in the community at the time of the shooting. Simply shocked, saddened, upset, what happened there on Friday night. Truly the unthinkable

This image was posted on Instagram by CC Batilo (ph) earlier today, "I stand in solidarity with you UCSB," the student reaction there. Robin Berger tweeted this, "it's really disturbing that I go to college in a place where a guy can go around killing because of rejection."

Of course, police are still trying to determine a motive for that, but that reaction there from Robin Berger who is evidently a student there in the community. Maria tweeted this, "you always hear about college students but it's crazy to think it actually could happen here." On Instagram, this photo was posted by somebody who said their apartment was just above a few stories above one of those nine crime scenes, they say "my apartment is one of those crime scenes. This is so sad." Also on Instagram, another local resident there saying "the shooting was right in front of me. So glad I'm alive." Chilling to think about somebody being so close to a near death experience.

Amanda Bookshire (ph) posted this on Instagram saying "Just drove through seven different blocked off crime scenes trying to leave my apartment. This isn't supposed to happen here." The reaction we're seeing on social media is much the same that we've heard from people who have spoken to our local affiliates as well as our own correspondents there on the ground. Simply shocked that something like this could happen in a community like Isla Vista. Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

We're going to bring our panel back. We are waiting for a press conference that is expected to begin at the top of the hour.

We've got with us, clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere, criminal defense attorney Holly Hughes and Brian Claypool and retired law enforcement agents Lou Palumbo. Jeff, I want to start with you. We got a manifesto, 140 pages 140 pages. OK. It is filled with self-pity. Sexual confusion, hatred towards women and it starts with his accidental birth.

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: That's right. He says that his mother was taking birth control pills but took another medication because she was having nausea, counteracted it and it was an accidental birth.

FEYERICK: Right.

GARDERE: So he began thinking of his life as a mistake.

FEYERICK: Coming into the world. We're trying to be very careful about giving details of this just because we're vetting it right now. But it's fascinating to me and I hate to say this, but this is actually really well written, 140 pages, which clearly shows significant pre- meditation that he wanted to leave his story, his novel behind and it almost sounds like David Copperfield, how I came into this world and then I was friends with this person and not friends with this person.

You know, before the break, Lou, we talked about personal responsibility when we were last talking. You know, a lot of people are going to be pointing fingers again. This young man, a mad man, personality disorder, psychosis, call it what you will. How can it be stopped?

PALUMBO: Well, not through any one method, I can tell you right now. We continue to pass gun laws. The only people they impact are people that aren't the problem. You do need some form of intelligent gun legislation. We need to address the mental illness issue in this society. We need to further educate the parents that when you have your children demonstrating some kind of erratic behavior, that there's a tool or mechanism in place that will support you. You know, bringing it to the attention of the police is certainly one step. At that point normally the police should refer you to court. You then retain an attorney, request a hearing, have the child evaluated by a psychiatric individual, court order, and then make a determination as to whether or not this child or person is a danger to himself or others. But there's no easy fix to this to this problem.

FEYERICK: There's never been an easy fix to this problem. Holly Hughes, Lou referred to him as a child. Yes, he's somebody's child, but he's also 22 years old. He's got rights. How does a parent put somebody whose 22 years old away even for a period of two to three days until he's determined not to be a danger to himself or his community, Holly?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, what Lou is talking about in going to court is you're petitioning the court, basically you're saying they have mental problems and they need a guardian, they need a conservator, somebody has to look after them. You are petitioning the court on behalf of even an adult person. You know, we see it all the time. Unfortunately when our parents get elderly and they start to loose some of their mental facilities, you're going to go to court and you're going to say, yes, they're an adult, they raised me; however, because of the mental, you know, issues, you know that they're now having, they're not competent to handle their own affairs. That's what he's referring to. You're going to petition the court to have them declared incompetent to proceed on their own behalf.

GARDERE: But the issue is you take a look at this manifesto, how well written it is. You don't think this individual can talk his way from being committed?

FEYERICK: Absolutely. There's no question.

I'm with Jeff on this one. OK. We're waiting for a press conference. It's going to start in just moments. Minutes away. Law enforcement in Santa Barbara. We're going to take it live right after. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick, in for Don Lemon. We have been waiting for police in the sheriff's department in Santa Barbara, California county. They're expected at any moment to come out and have a press conference for reporters to tell us what they've learn about the shooting that happened last night.