Woman on UCLA Shooter's 'Kill List' Found Dead: Police

LOS ANGELES, CA - A man suspected of carrying out a murder-suicide on the campus of UCLA had a chilling "kill list" at his home in Minnesota — and two of those people are now dead, police officials tell Patch.

According to the LAPD, Ph.D student Mainak Sarkar, 38, shot and killed a professor, identified as William S. Klug, in a small office inside an engineering building Wednesday. At the scene of that crime, a note was found, which led police to his home in St. Paul. There, investigators found the ‘kill list’ that led them to the body of his ex-wife or estranged wife, likely killed days before the UCLA shooting. Another professor's name was also on the list; that professor, who was off-campus when Sarkar arrived for his deadly rampage, was unharmed.

LATEST UPDATES:

• UCLA Shooting: Professor Dead In Murder-Suicide, Campus Safe
• UCLA Shooter ID'd as Graduate Student Mainak Sarkar

THE KILL LIST

“Two different notes. Two different locations,” LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck said. “The note that was left at the homicide scene doesn’t refer to suicide. It is a note, but it’s an instructional note to the finder to go check on his cat, which we did, and it also has some verbiage to this other potential victim that survived.”

Detectives believe Sarkar intended to kill two professors whom he held a grudge against over an imagined computer code copyright issue, said Beck. But he may have been prepared for a more deadly rampage.

“Sarkar was heavily armed. He had two semiautomatic pistols, one that was used for the homicide and the other that was in his backpack,” said Beck. “He was certainly prepared to engage multiple victims with the ordinance he had at his disposal… It very easily could have turned into a much, much more horrific situation."

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the woman killed in Minnesota was Sarkar's current or former wife, Ashley Hasti. Hasti and Sarkar were reportedly married in 2011, but it is unclear if they remained married.

CROSS COUNTRY MURDERS

Beck declined to identify the Minnesota woman police believe Sarkar killed before driving cross country to complete his deadly rampage at UCLA.

Brooklyn Park Police Deputy Chief Mark Bruley said police officers went to the woman's home at the request of the LAPD around 12:34 a.m. Thursday.

"Upon arrival officers located one adult female deceased from an apparent gunshot wound," he said in a press statement. “Early indications are the shooting occurred prior to the UCLA event."

Beck said Sarkar, 38, committed the Minnesota murder, then drove to California in a 2003 gray Nissan Sentra with the Minnesota license plate 720KTW.

The car is still being sought in the UCLA area. Although Beck said he does not believe the car presents any danger, he urged anyone who spots it to call authorities and not approach it.

Investigators are also working to confirm that there are no other victims left in Sarkar’s wake.

“There is no immediate evidence to suggest that, but, of course, that is one of the reason’s that we want to find the car to see where that will lead us,” Beck said. “Robbery/homicide is working with the states between here or there to see if there is a trail, but there is nothing that leads us to believe that at this point.”

THE MOTIVE

Sarkar, graduated from UCLA in 2013, and had been living in St. Paul for several years. But from across the country and the Internet, he continued to rage at his professors, whom he accused of stealing credit for his computer code, an accusation that UCLA and LAPD officials described as completely unfounded. Prior to the killings, Sarkar vented his rage in blog posts and social media rants directed at his professors.

Investigators contacted the other, yet unidentified professor, Sarkar had on his ‘kill list.’

“He knew Sarkar had issues with him,” Beck said. “I don’t think he knew it would rise to the level of homicide.”

In a post on March 10, Sarkar called Klug a "very sick person" who could not be trusted.

“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,” Sarkar wrote. “He made me really sick. Your enemy is my enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm. Be careful about whom you trust.”

Patch will continue to update this breaking news story as more information becomes available. Refresh for the latest. City News Service contributed to this report.