Elliot Rodger

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Elliot Rodger
Born
Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger

(1991-07-24)July 24, 1991
Lambeth, London, England
DiedMay 23, 2014(2014-05-23) (aged 22)
Isla Vista, California, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide by self-inflicted gunshot
Nationality
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
EducationIndependence Continuation High School
Santa Barbara City College (no degree)
OccupationStudent
MovementIncels
Parent(s)Peter Rodger
Chin Li Rodger
RelativesGeorge Rodger (grandfather)

Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger (July 24, 1991 – May 23, 2014) was an American incel and mass murderer who committed the 2014 Isla Vista Killings. The killing spree, which has been described by some as an instance of misogynistic terrorism, was motivated by Rodger's contempt of women and romantically successful men.

Born in England, Rodger came to the U.S. at a young age and was part of the 'incel' community, a group of romantically unsuccessful men who blame women for all of society's woes. Rodger, who described himself as "the true alpha male" and "the Supreme Gentleman," started planning his killing spree in late 2011. He stabbed his three roommates to death before uploading, on May 23, a video on Youtube entitled "Elliot Rodger's Retribution" where he aired his grievances against society, women, and vowed revenge in the form of a killing spree. Shortly after, Rodger tried to enter a UCSB Sorority but, after being unsuccessful in doing so, decided to go on a killing spree on the streets of Isla Vista. Rodger killed 2 women and a man before getting in a shoot-out with police. He then committed suicide in his BMW while in pursuit.

Rodger inspired a number of copycat crimes, most notably the 2018 Toronto Van terrorist attacks by fellow incel Alek Minassian. In the incel community, Rodger is often venerated as a 'saint' and a 'hero.' He is often cited as the first example of radicalized incel terrorism.

Early life

Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger was an English-born American college student. Born in London, England, he moved to the United States with his parents at age five.[1] He was raised in Los Angeles. His father is British filmmaker Peter Rodger, his paternal grandfather photo-journalist George Rodger.[2][3] His mother is a Malaysian Chinese research assistant for a film company.[4][5][6] A younger sister was born before his parents divorced. After Peter remarried, he and his second wife Soumaya Akaaboune,[7] a Moroccan actress with whom Elliot had a strained relationship,[8] had a son together.

Rodger attended Crespi Carmelite High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Encino, Los Angeles, and then Taft High School in Woodland Hills.[9] He graduated from Independence Continuation High School in Lake Balboa in 2009,[9] and briefly attended Los Angeles Pierce College and Moorpark College before moving to Isla Vista in 2011.[10] He attended Santa Barbara City College; in his manifesto he said that he dropped out of his classes in February 2012;[11] after the killings the school said he had no longer been taking classes.[12]

Mental health and social problems

According to his family's attorney and a family friend, Rodger had seen multiple therapists since he was eight years old,[12] but the attorney said he had never been formally diagnosed with a mental illness.[13] He was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, an autism spectrum disorder, in 2007.[10]

By the ninth grade, Rodger was "increasingly bullied", and wrote later that he "cried by [himself] at school every day";[14] at this time he developed an obsession with the multiplayer-online game World of Warcraft, which dominated his life for most of his teenage years, and briefly into his 20s. At Crespi Carmelite High he was bullied; in one incident his head was taped to a desk while he was asleep.[15][16] According to Rodger, in 2012, "the one friend [he] had in the whole world who truly understood [him] ... said he didn't want to be friends anymore" without offering any reason.[14] Rodger had a YouTube account, and a blog titled "Elliot Rodger's Official Blog", through which he expressed loneliness and rejection. He wrote that he had been prescribed risperidone but refused to take it, stating, "After researching this medication, I found that it was the absolute wrong thing for me to take."[17]

After turning 18, Rodger began rejecting mental health care and became increasingly isolated. He said that he was unable to make friends, although acquaintances said that he rebuffed their attempts to be friendly.[18] Family friend Dale Launer said that he counseled Rodger on approaching women, but that Rodger did not follow the advice; Launer also commented that when he met Rodger at eight or nine, "I could see then that there was something wrong with him ... looking back now he strikes me as someone who was broken from the moment of conception."[19]

Early incidents

Rodger claims in his manifesto that in 2011 he threw coffee on a couple he was jealous of;[20]: 87  he claims in another incident, he splashed coffee on two girls for not smiling at him.[20]: 100  In 2012 Rodger used a Super Soaker filled with orange juice to spray a group playing kickball at Girsh Park.[20]: 106–107 [21]

Referring to an incident in July 2013,[21] Rodger wrote that after being mocked at a party he tried but failed to shove some girls over a ten-foot ledge; instead, other boys pushed him over and his ankle was injured. When he went back for his sunglasses he was again mocked, and beaten. A neighbor saw Rodger come home crying and vowing to kill the men involved and then himself.[14] He wrote in his manifesto that the incident was the final trigger for his planning the attack.[21]

In January 2014, Rodger accused Cheng Yuan Hong, one of his roommates, of stealing some candles; Hong pleaded guilty to petty theft.[22][23] On April 30,[24] Rodger's parents contacted police after becoming alarmed by his behavior and YouTube videos.[20]: 134 [25][26] Sheriff's deputies who visited Rodger determined that he did not meet the criteria for an involuntary mental health commitment; Rodger had told them he had a "misunderstanding" with his parents.[27]

Manifesto and online posts

Rodger emailed his 107,000-word manifesto, My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger,[28] to 34 people,[10]: 7  including his therapist, Charles Sophy,[29][30] his parents and other family,[31] former teachers, and childhood friends.[32] In it he said he had originally sought to carry out an attack on Halloween of 2013, but reconsidered because he thought there would be too many police present.[20]: 110 

In his last YouTube video, "Elliot Rodger's Retribution", Rodger complained of being rejected by women and envying sexually active men, and described his planned attack[33] and the motives behind it.[34] In the video, he says:

Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day in which I will have my revenge against humanity, against all of you. For the last eight years of my life, ever since I hit puberty, I've been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires all because girls have never been attracted to me. Girls gave their affection, and sex, and love to other men but never to me.[35] I'm 22 years old and I'm still a virgin. I've never even kissed a girl. I've been through college for two and a half years, more than that actually, and I'm still a virgin. It has been very torturous. College is the time when everyone experiences those things such as sex and fun and pleasure. Within those years, I've had to rot in loneliness. It's not fair. You girls have never been attracted to me. I don't know why you girls aren't attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. It's an injustice, a crime, because ... I don't know what you don't see in me. I'm the perfect guy and yet you throw yourselves at these obnoxious men instead of me, the supreme gentleman.[35]

He wrote in My Twisted World that being of mixed race made him "different from the normal fully white kids".[15][14] On one online forum, he said that he opposed interracial dating and made several racist posts regarding African-American, Hispanic, South Asian and East Asian people, stating that seeing men of these ethnic groups socializing with white women "makes you want to quit life".[14][20]: 87 [36] In one online post, Rodger wrote:

Full Asian men are disgustingly ugly and white girls would never go for you. You're just butthurt that you were born as an Asian piece of shit, so you lash out by linking these fake pictures. You even admit that you wish you were half white. You'll never be half-white and you'll never fulfill your dream of marrying a white woman. I suggest you jump off a bridge.[36]

In his manifesto, Rodger made a racist comment regarding another boy, outlining some of his plans:

How could an inferior, ugly black boy be able to get a white girl and not me? I am beautiful, and I am half white myself. I am descended from British aristocracy. He is descended from slaves.[20]: 84  On the day before the Day of Retribution, I will start the First Phase of my vengeance: Silently killing as many people as I can around Isla Vista by luring them into my apartment through some form of trickery.[37]

A "War on Women" was the second phase of his plan:[16]

The Second Phase will take place on the Day of Retribution itself, just before the climactic massacre ... My War on Women ... I will attack the very girls who represent everything I hate in the female gender: The hottest sorority of UCSB.[38]

Rodger stated in his manifesto that, in his ideal world, he would "quarantine all [women] in concentration camps. At these camps, the vast majority of the female population will be deliberately starved to death. That would be an efficient and fitting way to kill them all off ... I would have an enormous tower built just for myself ... and gleefully watch them all die."[20]: 136  He also dreamed of "a pure world, [where] the man's mind can develop to greater heights than ever before. Future generations will live their lives free of having to worry about the barbarity of sex and women, which will enable them to expand their intelligence and advance the human race to a state of perfect civilization."[20]: 137  He said that he planned to kill his half-brother and stepmother, but was not mentally prepared to kill his father.[26]

Preparations

In September 2012, Rodger visited a shooting range to practice firing handguns.[11] In November, he purchased his first handgun, a Glock 34 pistol, in Goleta, choosing it as "an efficient and highly accurate weapon".[29] In early 2013, Rodger bought two additional handguns, both SIG Sauer P226 pistols, writing that they were "of a much higher quality than the Glock" and "a lot more efficient".[11] He purchased the weapons legally in Oxnard and Burbank, California.[39]

Rodger claimed[20]: 104  to have saved at least $6,000, which was given to him by his parents and grandmothers, in order to purchase the weapons and supplies for the attacks.[11][40] Gun law experts in California have said that there was nothing in Rodger's known history that prevented him from making legal firearm purchases.[18]

References

  1. ^ Molloy, Antonia (May 26, 2014). "California killings: Elliot Rodger's parents heard news of massacre on radio as they raced to stop their son". The Independent. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  2. ^ Sherwell, Philip (May 24, 2014). "California drive-by shooting: 'Son of Hunger Games assistant director' Elliot Rodger suspected of killing six". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  3. ^ Flynn, Mike (May 25, 2014). "Elliot Rodger shootings in Isla Vista, Santa Barbara, California. Elliot Rodger is the son of one of the directors who worked on 'Hunger Games'". Covered Globe. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  4. ^ Brown, Pamela (May 27, 2014). "California killer's parents frantically searched for son during shooting". CNN. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  5. ^ Duke, Alan (May 27, 2014). "California killer's family struggled with money, court documents show". CNN. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  6. ^ Habibu, Sira (May 27, 2014). "'Unloved' killer was adored". The Star Online. Malaysia. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  7. ^ "Inside Santa Barbara Killer's Manifesto". ABC News via Good Morning America. May 25, 2014. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  8. ^ Allen, Nick (27 May 2014). "'Virgin killer' Elliot Rodger planned to murder his family". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. ^ a b Nagourney, Adam; Cieply, Michael; Feuer, Alan; Lovett, Ian (June 1, 2014). "Before Brief, Deadly Spree, Trouble Since Age 8". The New York Times (published June 2, 2014). Archived from the original on June 3, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  10. ^ a b c "Isla Vista Mass Murder – May 23, 2014 – Investigative Summary" (PDF). Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. February 18, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  11. ^ a b c d Duke, Alan (May 27, 2014). "Timeline to 'Retribution': Isla Vista attacks planned over years". CNN. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  12. ^ a b Mendoza, Martha; Garcia, Oskar (May 25, 2014). "Suspect in California rampage blamed aloof women". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  13. ^ "The secret life of Elliot Rodger: ABC 20/20 special edition". ABC News. June 27, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  14. ^ a b c d e Mozingo, Joe; Covarrubias, Amanda; Winton, Richard (May 25, 2014). "Isla Vista shooting suspect's videos reflect cold rage". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  15. ^ a b Lovett, Ian; Nagourney, Adam (June 15, 2014). "Video rant, then deadly rampage in California town". The New York Times (published May 24, 2014). Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  16. ^ a b Alcindor, Yamiche; Welch, William M. (May 26, 2014). "Parents read shooting suspect's manifesto too late". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  17. ^ Firger, Jessica (May 26, 2014). "Mental illness in spotlight after UC Santa Barbara rampage". CBS News. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  18. ^ a b "Isla Vista suspect allowed to buy guns despite emotional problems". Los Angeles Times. May 27, 2014. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  19. ^ "How I tried to help Elliot Rodger". BBC. July 8, 2014. Archived from the original on July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodger, Elliot (n.d.). My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014 – via Document Cloud.org.
  21. ^ a b c Good, Dan; Sandell, Clayton; Vega, Cecilia (May 27, 2014). "Elliot Rodger's Previous Attacks on Women, Couples". ABC Good Morning America|Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  22. ^ Nelson, Laura J.; Gold, Scott; Flores, Adolfo; Mather, Kate (May 25, 2014). "All 6 victims in Isla Vista slayings were UCSB students". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  23. ^ "Santa Barbara rampage: Stabbing victim identified as Cheng Yuan Hong". New York Daily News. May 25, 2014. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  24. ^ Yan, Holly; Almasy, Steve; Sidner, Sara (May 27, 2014). "California mass killer thought plan was over during April visit by deputies". CNN. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  25. ^ Candea, Ben; Mohney, Gillian (May 24, 2014). "Santa Barbara Killer Began By Stabbing 3 in His Home". ABC News. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  26. ^ a b "Gunman e-mailed plans to parents before rampage". Chicago Tribune. May 26, 2014. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  27. ^ CNN Wire (May 26, 2014). "Santa Barbara shooter planned killing spree to exact revenge". Fox 31 KDVR. Denver. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ Duke, Alan (May 27, 2014). "Five revelations from the 'twisted world' of a 'kissless virgin'". CNN. Archived from the original on May 31, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  29. ^ a b Medina, Jennifer (May 25, 2014). "Even in a State with Restrictive Laws, Gunman Amassed Weapons and Ammunition". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  30. ^ Mozingo, Joe (May 25, 2014). "Frantic parents of shooting suspect raced to Isla Vista during rampage". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  31. ^ Nagourney, Adam (May 25, 2014). "Parents' Nightmare: Futile Race to Stop Killings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  32. ^ Feldman, Dana (May 26, 2014). "Father blames government 'idiots' as California town mourns killings". Yahoo! News. Reuters. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  33. ^ "California drive-by gunman kills six in Santa Barbara". BBC. May 24, 2014. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  34. ^ Ellis, Ralph; Sidner, Sara (May 27, 2014). "Deadly California rampage: Chilling video, but no match for reality". CNN. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  35. ^ a b "Transcript of video linked to Santa Barbara mass shooting". CNN. May 28, 2014. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  36. ^ a b Glasstetter, Josh (May 24, 2014). "Elliot Rodger, Isla Vista Shooting Suspect, Posted Racist Messages on Misogynistic Website". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  37. ^ Covarrubias, Amanda; Flores, Adolfo; Mather, Kate; Xia, Rosanna (May 24, 2014). "Isla Vista shooting: 3 bodies removed from alleged gunman's apartment". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  38. ^ Beekman, Daniel (May 26, 2014). "Elliot Rodger wrote manifesto on his hate for women and his vindictive scheme prior to deadly rampage". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  39. ^ Ross, Philip (May 27, 2014). "California Police Lacked Probable Cause To Confiscate Shooter Elliot Rodger's Handguns". International Business Times. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  40. ^ Allen, Nick (26 May 2014). "Elliot Rodger may have used machetes and hammer to murder house-mates in 'killing chamber'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
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