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Video vowing slaughter may be tied to shootings near UC Santa Barbara

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Police said they are analyzing a video that might be connected to the shooting deaths of six people in Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara on Friday night.

A series of drive-by shootings left seven people dead, including a man believed to have carried out the attacks, and seven injured.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the video titled “Elliott Rodger’s retribution” “appears to be connected at this time.” The video appears to have been done by a young man who identified himself on his blog as a student in Santa Barbara.

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“I’ll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am in truth the superior one, the true alpha male,” the man says on the video, sitting in a car.

On the six-minute video, he talks about feeling alienated and rejected by women.

“I will be a god compared to you. You will all be animals. You are animals, and I will slaughter you like animals. I hate all of you. Humanity is a disgusting, wretched, depraved species,” he says.

“Yes, after I have annihilated every single girl in the sorority house I’ll take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there.”

Authorities said they are looking at videotaped as well as written evidence related to the shooting but would not elaborate.

The deadly shooting spree started at 9:27 p.m. in Isla Vista. As deputies were tending to the injured in the first round of shootings, reports of gunfire in several other areas of the college community were reported.

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Six minutes after the first 911 call came in, an unidentified man began shooting at deputies, who returned fire. He fled and seconds later was spotted by another deputy, prompting another firefight.

He then took off down Del Playa Drive and crashed into a parked vehicle, the sheriff’s office said. When deputies approached the vehicle they discovered the man was dead and recovered a semi-automatic handgun.

He has been preliminarily identified, but his name hasn’t been released pending positive identification, authorities said. Investigators believe he acted alone and they’re currently analyzing video and written evidence that suggests the killings were premeditated.

The seven injured people are being treated for gunshot wounds or traumatic injuries; their conditions are unknown. At least one of them has undergone surgery.

Authorities are investigating nine crime scenes and are interviewing a large number of witnesses, sheriff officials said.

Nikolaus Becker was eating outside the Habit, 888 Embarcadero Del Norte, near the scene when the first set of shots was fired about 9:30 p.m. At first he thought it was firecrackers. A group of three to five police officers who were nearby started to casually walk toward the sounds, said Becker, but ran when a second round of shots broke out.

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