WOODLAND HILLS : Searches of S.F. Gunman’s Home, Office Yield No Clues

Searches of the Woodland Hills home and office of the gunman who killed eight people last week in a San Francisco high-rise office provided detectives with conflicting views of the killer but no clue to his motivation, the lead investigator said Thursday.

San Francisco police found Gian Luigi Ferri’s apartment cluttered, notably with gun magazines and ammunition boxes, while the gunmen’s Ventura Boulevard mortgage brokerage office was neatly kept and appeared to be the center of ongoing business activity.

Neither of the locations, which were searched Tuesday, provided investigators with any indication of why Ferri, 55, went on the rampage July 1 and killed himself, the investigator said.

According to a four-page note found on Ferri’s body, he was beset by financial problems and business failures. The note contained a list of people he thought responsible. He entered a law firm on the building’s 34th floor and opened fire. By the time the 15-minute massacre was over, he had killed eight, wounded six and taken his own life when cornered by police.

Ferri had lived in Woodland Hills for about a year after leaving Marin County. Police said Ferri’s one-bedroom, $750-a-month apartment on Erwin Street was generally unkempt, with dirty glasses in the sink, empty ammunition boxes, gun receipts, magazines and ammunition. He said detectives found Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” in the bedroom and receipts and records indicating that Ferri was heavily in debt.