Advertisement

Isla Vista rampage: One of Elliot Rodger’s roommates planned to move

Flowers are placed outside the apartment where Elliot Rodger lived and allegedly fatally stabbed his roommates.
Flowers are placed outside the apartment where Elliot Rodger lived and allegedly fatally stabbed his roommates.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Share via

One of three roommates allegedly slain by Elliot Rodger was planning on moving out of their Isla Vista apartment because of conflicts they were having, the victim’s mother told KNTV Monday.

UC Santa Barbara student Weihan “David” Wang was upset by loud music Rodger played in the middle of the night and had decided to move to another apartment for the next school year, his mother, Jane Liu, told the station.

Liu, a nurse, said she and her husband, Charlie Wang, were devastated by the death of their only child. The 20-year-old, a graduate of Fremont Christian School, was planning to spend the summer with his parents in Fremont, Calif.

Advertisement

“What can I do without my son?” Liu said. “My son, my whole life, I’m so proud of him.”

Wang and two other UCSB undergraduates, Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, 20, and George Chen, 19, were found stabbed to death in the rental they shared with Rodger, 23. Authorities say he killed the trio before embarking on a shooting rampage that left three more dead and 13 wounded Friday.

“I feel heartbroken,” Liu told the station. “I go to church a few times a week, donate, try to [be] nice to everybody. I don’t understand why this happened to me.”

On Monday, there was a growing collection of candles and flowers outside Rodger’s apartment on Seville Road.

Advertisement

Authorities said Rodger outlined his violent intentions in a 137-page document that he sent out Friday night shortly before he went on a shooting rampage in the Santa Barbara County coastal community.

In his rambling screed, Rodger talks about having to kill his housemates “to secure the entire apartment for myself as my personal torture and killing chamber.”

At the makeshift memorial, there was a note addressed to George Chen.

“George,” the note read. “Thank you for bringing joy to the people in your life. You will be missed. Rest in peace. With love, Your childhood neighbor.”

Advertisement

Niloofar Kilpelainen, whose son is a senior at UCSB, was emotional as she looked at the flowers laid out in front of Rodger’s apartment. She pulled off her sunglasses, as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Kilpelainen went to the apartment with her son’s girlfriend, Hanna Korynta, who is a second-year student at UCSB. Korynta, 20, added another bouquet of flowers to the memorial for the three men who were killed.

The two didn’t know any of the victims, they said, but wanted to pay their respects.

“I just can’t imagine being a parent and going through this right now,” Kilpelainen said. “I have to pay my respects. I feel grief for all of the parents. I even feel grief for the parents of the boy.”

“These are our kids,” she said. “These are our children.”

Kilpelainen criticized gun proponents, saying background checks should be stricter for first-time buyers. Her son was shaken by Friday’s rampage, she said -- as are many other students.

“Life does go on for them, but it’s very different,” she said.

Korynta said the two had visited the 7-Eleven and Alpha Phi sorority house -- two other sites marked by Friday’s violence -- and had plans to go to the I.V. Deli Mart, where another student was killed.

“We just wanted to reach out and show our respect,” she said.

The management of the apartment complex also issued a statement:

“The Capri Apartments at Isla Vista expresses its deepest condolences to the families and friends of all the victims in the recent Isla Vista tragedy,” the note read. “We grieve with them for their loss.”

Advertisement
Advertisement