Isla Vista Gun Stash: Kevin Tym, UCSB Student, Busted With 7 Weapons, 1,000 Rounds Of Ammo

In Isla Vista, California, the site of last Friday’s horrific mass shooting by disturbed 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, sheriff’s deputies seized a large stash of weapons Tuesday from student Kevin Tym, 21, after Tym accidentally fired a shot into a neighbor’s apartment, nearly wounding the neighbor.

The arrest of Tym and seizure of seven firearms and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as high-capacity assault rifle magazines, came on the same day that the University of California at Santa Barbara — just east of Isla Vista — where Tym is a student, declared a day of mourning for the victims of Friday’s shootings, with a reported 20,000 people packing the university’s Harder Stadium for a memorial service.

But at about 2:30 that afternoon in Isla Vista, according to a statement from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Tym was in his apartment “playing” with a Glock 17 9mm handgun, which he owned legally.

The gun went off and one bullet blasted through Tym’s wall into the apartment next door, on the 6500 block of Pardall Road, in Isla Vista. The bullet deflected off a TV stand and ended up in the neighbor’s wall — barely missing the neighbor, who was also home at the time.

The deputies questioned Tym, who admitted that he was the source of the potentially deadly stray bullet, saying that the shot was an accident. Deputies searched his Isla Vista apartment and found a veritable arsenal. The seven guns and massive cache of ammunition were all seized by deputies, who said that all of the weapons had been purchased and were owned legally by Kevin Tym.

The high-capacity assault weapon magazines were not legal, however. In California, high-capacity magazines are defined as any magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at one time. Magazines purchased before January 1, 2000, and continually owned by the same person are exempt from the ban, unless the owner is otherwise restricted from owning firearms.

California has a lengthy list of factors that disqualify a person from owning guns in the state. In addition to conviction of a felony or misdemeanor crime, other factors that make it illegal to own guns include being declared by a court as a danger to oneself or others due to mental illness, being the subject of a restraining order, and communicating a threat to a licensed psychotherapist, who then reports the threat to police.

Kevin Tym was arrested in Isla Vista on charges of negligently discharging a firearm and owning high capacity magazines. His bail was set at $2,500.

[Image: Facebook via Santa Barbara Independent]