June 4, 2016

Updated: Gentleman Immigrant From India, Shoots Wife In Minnesota, Drives To Los Angeles, Shoots Professor Dead Over Computer Code


Posted June 2, 2016 8:23 PM ET; Last updated June 4, 2016 4:53 PM ET


Mainak Sarkar, 38, who shot and killed UCLA professor William Klug, 39, on campus Wednesday, murdered Ashley Hasti (pictured together on his Facebook page) at her home in Minnesota before driving to find his former instructor. The pair got married in 2011. She is reported to be a medical student.


[Updated June 4, 2016 4:53 PM ET]
[From article]
UCLA shooting suspect Mainak Sarkar came to the United States on a foreign student visa in 2001 after graduating from a prestigious Indian technology university and was granted permanent legal status in the U.S. in 2014.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued the following statement to Breitbart News on Thursday afternoon regarding Sarkar’s legal status in the country:
Department of Homeland Security databases indicate that Mr. Sarkar was in the United States lawfully at the time of his death, having been granted lawful permanent residence in May 2014. According to DHS databases, Mr. Sarkar originally came to the U.S. in 2001 on a foreign student visa to pursue graduate studies. DHS’ electronic records show he obtained three student visas between 2001 and 2008 to engage in masters and doctoral programs in the U.S.
[. . .]
Sarkar graduated from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in 2000 with a degree in aerospace engineering, according to the Los Angeles Times. The IIT has been criticized for diminishing quality in recent years. The Times reported, “The intense pressure for success has resulted in a growing mental health crisis at top Indian educational institutions, including IIT.” Reports indicate 57 aspiring IIT students have committed suicide in the last five years.

http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/06/02/ucla-shooter-granted-u-s-permanent-legal-status-2014/

UCLA Shooter Entered U.S. on Foreign Student Visa In 2001
by MICHELLE MOONS
Jun 2016

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[Posted June 2, 2016 8:23 PM ET]
[From article]
The UCLA gunman's wife was found dead in her Minnesota home hours after her husband fatally shot his former professor in Los Angeles and then killed himself.
Ashley Hasti, 31, died of a gunshot wound to the head, almost certainly at the hands of Mainak Sarkar, who listed her on his 'kill list'.
St Paul-based PhD graduate Sarkar had been planning to execute more victims after killing professor William Klug in the UCLA engineering building on Wednesday - but killed himself instead, the LAPD revealed on Thursday.
UCLA graduate Sarkar, 38, who was born in India before coming to the US to study, is suspected of shooting Hasti in her home near Minneapolis several days ago before driving to southern California.
She was discovered by officers at around 12.30am carrying out a welfare check on behalf of the LAPD. Multiple sources confirmed that she married Sarkar in 2011.
Police say they found a 'kill list' at Sarkar's home, also near Minneapolis, which included the names of his former PhD supervisor Klug and the female victim, alongside that of another UCLA professor who used to teach Sarkar.
Detectives say Sarkar likely intended to kill that professor as well, but may have been unable to find him because he was not on campus.
LAPD chief Charlie Beck said that Sarkar was involved in a long-running dispute with both professors because he believed they had stolen computer codes he wrote as part of his PhD before passing them on to another student.
However, Beck added that there is no evidence to suggest this was true, saying the slight was a figment of Sarkar's imagination. Beck refused to confirm Hasti's identity, and would also not discuss sarkar's motive for killing her or the nature of their relationship.
At the time of her death, Hasti was enrolled in the University of Minnesota Medical School, a university spokesman said. She first enrolled in the college in 2012. In 2008, she received a bachelor's degree in Asian languages and literature from the same institution.
Beck said that Sarkar had traveled to Los Angeles 'some time in the last couple of days', raising the prospect that Hasti's body had lain undiscovered for some time before officers found it.
Mark Bruley, a spokesman for the Brooklyn Park Police Department, confirmed that the shooting in Minnesota happened before the killing at UCLA, but said he could not reveal the time difference between the two.
Beck added that officers are checking on Sarkar's family members and loved ones out of 'an abundance of caution' to see if there are other victims, but said they are not expecting to find any more.
Sarkar was armed with two 9mm semi-automatic pistols when he arrived at UCLA, Beck added, saying at least one was purchased legally in Minnesota. He also had several fully loaded magazines and additional loose ammunition.
Beck said: 'This is a tragedy, but if there is a silver lining here, it's that Sarkar could have done a lot more damage with the ordinance that he brought.'
Beck also revealed that detectives were led to Sarkar's home by a note he left at the scene of the UCLA shooting asking whoever found his body to go and check on his cat.
Officers are also searching for a grey Nissan Sentra, with Minnesota licence plate 720 KTW, that Sarkar is believed to have used to drive from Minnesota to LA, saying there may be valuable evidence inside.
In a blog post uploaded on March 10 under Sarkar's name, he writes that Klug 'stole all my code and gave it another student', branding him a 'sick man'.
The post, which was uploaded to a blog called Long Dark Tunnel but has since been deleted, says: 'William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor. He is a very sick person. I urge every new student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy.
'My name is Mainak Sarkar. I was this guy’s PhD student. We had personal differences. He cleverly stole all my code and gave it another student. He made me really sick.
'Your enemy is your enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm. Be careful about whom you trust. Stay away from this sick guy.'
Beck said that while Klug and his colleagues were aware of Sarkar's issues with the property rights, and thought of his behavior as odd, they did not view him as a threat.
A source told the LA Times that Sarkar's claims were 'psychotic', adding that his characterization of Klug as a thief is 'absolutely untrue'.
Klug was dedicated to helping Sarkar pass the course, the source added, saying he bent over backwards to help even though the quality of Sarkar's work was often below par.
A UCLA spokesman told Dailymail.com that Sarkar earned his PhD in the summer of 2013, the same year he submitted his dissertation thanking Klug for his help in putting it together.
His dissertation and thesis, which he compelted (sic) in 2013, was approved by Klug. Sarkar dedicated it to his late mother, Ira Sarkar.
The shooter's social media profiles show he obtained his undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, in Kharagpur, in 2000. The prestigious institution is known as the MIT of India, and alumni include current Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
He then worked for a time as a software developer in Bangalore before moving to America, where he worked as a research assistant at the University of Texas in Arlington.
In 2003 he went to Stanford to study for a Masters in aeronautics and astronautics, graduating two years later, and then going back to work as a software developer in Texas.
It was after that job that he began studying for his PhD in mechanical engineering at UCLA, working as a teaching assistant for a few years, and then taking a job at Endurica, a rubber testing company where he specialized in 'elastomer fatigue'.
However, an email from Endurica to the Dailymail.com revealed that Sarkar stopped working for that company back in 2014. It is not clear what, if any, employment he had in the last two years.
A UCLA spokesman said the institution is trying to establish whether Sarkar worked for them after he graduated, and whether he had any other connections to the college.
Klug, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA, was married with two young children and spent his spare time coaching his son's little-league baseball team, friends said.
[. . .]
Around 200 armed police, SWAT officers, FBI agents and firefighters were called to the campus to reports of at least three shots fired inside the Engineering IV building at around 10am on Wednesday, before finding the bodies of both men alongside a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
[. . .]
Umar Rehman, 21, was in a math sciences classroom adjacent to the building where the shooting took place. The buildings are connected by walkway bridges near the center of the 419-acre campus.
'We kept our eye on the door. We knew that somebody eventually could come,' he said.
The door would not lock and those in the room devised a plan to hold it closed using a belt and crowbar, and demand ID from anyone who tried to get in.
Scott Waugh, an executive vice chancellor and provost, said the university would look into concerns about doors that would not lock.
[. . .]
Jason La, 33, a computer science graduate student, told the LA Times that he was sitting in Boelter Hall taking a test about 9:40 a.m. when an officer walked in and told the class to lock the door and barricade it.
About a minute later, they were told to leave. As students began to move out of the building, an officer yelled at people to get away from the building and people began to run away, La said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3621726/The-PhD-student-shot-UCLA-professor-dead-Indian-rubber-engineer-killed-thesis-supervisor-wouldn-t-let-graduate-committed-suicide.html

Pictured: Medical student wife of UCLA gunman who he 'shot dead' in her Minnesota home before driving across the country to kill his former professor
Mainak Sarkar, 38, shot professor William Klug, 39, dead at UCLA Wednesday before turning the weapon on himself
Police said that Sarkar had a 'kill list' including the name of a woman who has been found dead in Minnesota
His wife, medical student Ashley Hasti, was found with a gunshot to the head at 12.30am during a welfare check
Another professor was also named on Sarkar's list, but was not on campus at the time of the shooting
Cops said Sarkar appeared to resent the two professors because of a dispute over codes he wrote for his PhD
Klug, a married father-of-two, worked as an associate professor and coached his son's little-league baseball team
By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and BEN ASHFORD IN ST PAUL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:02 EST, 2 June 2016 | UPDATED: 18:29 EST, 2 June 2016



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William Klug, 39, at a UCLA Bruins game, was a Mechanical Engineering professor. His areas of interest included computational structural and solid mechanics, computational biomechanics, and micro/nanomechanics of biological systems.


Police said Mainak Sarkar, 38, may have targeted Klug, a married father-of-two, in a dispute over a piece of code he wrote while he was a student.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3620401/UCLA-campus-lockdown-reports-shooting.html

Pictured: The disgruntled former PhD student who shot dead UCLA professor he 'accused of stealing his work' and then killed himself
Mainak Sarkar, 38, shot professor William Klug, 39, dead at UCLA yesterday before turning the weapon on himself
Police said today that Sarkar had a 'kill list' including the name of a woman who has been found dead in Minnesota
Bodies of both men were found with gunshot wounds inside a small office in an engineering building
The victim was identified as mechanical engineering professor William Klug, 39.
LAPD said Sarkar appeared to resent Klug, his old PhD supervisor, because of a dispute over intellectual property
Klug, a married father-of-two, worked as an associate professor and coached his son's little-league baseball team
Police say a piece of evidence, possibly a suicide note, has been recovered from the scene alongside a gun
Some furious students said they were asked to find computers in various locations to complete their exams
By CHRIS PLEASANCE and WILLS ROBINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:39 EST, 1 June 2016 | UPDATED: 14:12 EST, 2 June 2016



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http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-87420291/

Professor killed in UCLA murder-suicide was brilliant, kind and caring, colleagues say
SARAH PARVINI, Kate Mather and Hailey Branson-Potts
June 1, 2016, 9:07 p.m.

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http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-87431606/

UCLA gunman planned to kill two professors, but could only find one, police say
KATE MATHER,
Richard Winton
June 2, 2016, 3:26 p.m.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UCLA_SHOOTING_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Jun 1, 10:25 PM EDT
THE LATEST: OFFICIAL IDS UCLA
AP

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http://nypost.com/2016/06/02/ucla-gunman-idd/

Man accused UCLA professor of stealing his work before fatal shooting
By David K. Li
New York Post
June 2, 2016 | 10:48am
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http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/most-popular/~3/Lu5coFiW_aY/student-reportedly-upset-about-grades-kills-ucla-professor-himself.html

Student reportedly upset about grades kills UCLA professor, himself
Published June 02, 2016

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