Elliot Rodger’s videos which threatened to carry out the Santa Barbara shooting were known about for several weeks by police, but officers did not bother watching them during their investigation of the troubled young man.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , right before Elliot Rodger started the Isla Vista shooting spree, he recorded multiple YouTube videos that described his rage against women . Even some Reddit users red-flagged his activities online , pointing out that the young man seemed to be planning something terrible. Elliot also released a manifesto that explained his plans for murder in detail. Reports also suggest that Rodger refused to take his psychiatric drugs as prescribed by doctors.
Now we’re discovering that a warning from Elliot’s therapist and his mother triggered a visit by police to his Isla Vista apartment on April 30. A police officer and a dispatcher in training talked to Elliot outside his apartment but did not check out the interior of his residence. Rodger even wrote about how he was afraid they would find his guns and writings:
“‘I tactfully told them that it was all a misunderstanding, and they finally left. If they had demanded to search my room…. That would have ended everything. For a few horrible seconds, I thought it was all over.”
Apparently, Elliot even realized the danger his YouTube videos posed to his plans since he since he wrote in one description: “I temporarily took all of my Vlog’s down due to the alarm it caused with some people in my family. I will post more updates in the future.” If you go to Elliot Rodger’s Facebook page there really is not much there other than a relatively large number of selfies, so if there was any other evidence there then it was deleted ahead of time.
Now it’s being claimed that police did not properly investigate the Santa Barbara shooter. But sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover says the police could not enter the apartment without a warrant:
“An exception would be if deputies felt that a person was a harm to themselves or others or there was an immediate threat. In this case, we would have had to determine that Elliot Rodger or his roommates were in immediate danger.”
Chris Pollard , who lives in the same apartment complex as Elliot Rodger, claims police were fooled by Rodger’s acting but should have been able to get this search warrant by merely looking at the YouTube videos:
“When it got to the point that the parents called the police, it makes me wonder if the police even looked at the videos. If they’d looked at the videos, they could’ve done some sort of court order to do a search warrant. When you looked at him, there was no reason to get concerned. He didn’t seem like a threatening or intimidating guy. He was just very quiet.”
In addition, Elliot Rodger’s guns were all purchased legally and registered in his own name. California has multiple gun control laws related to people with mental illnesses, so it is claimed that these handguns should have been considered a red flag based upon the circumstances.