On Thursday, the deputies of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said that they were aware of the fact that Elliot Rodger had posted disturbing videos of himself prior to the latter killing six college students. The sheriff's office had conducted a welfare visit to Rodger three weeks before the attacks that happened in the Isla Vista community and deemed that he was not a threat to himself or others.
The Associated Press said that the latest statement from the sheriff's office had corrected an earlier assertion that its deputies were not aware of the videos at the time they paid Rodger a visit on April 30. It was also made known that the deputies never viewed the Rodger's videos during or after the welfare visit. The statement, however, fell short of explaining why the videos were never examined and if the deputies had knowledge about the videos' contents aside from the fact that they deemed the videos as such.
On the other hand, AP said that the sheriff's department had given a timelime of the events leading to the killings.
According to the police timeline, Rodger uploaded a video titled "Day of Retribution" to YouTube on May 23 at 9:17PM. The video showed him revealing his plans and reasons for the killings. Rodger later emailed a lengthy manifesto of his acts to his mother and father a minute later, explaining the reasons for him doing so. Initial gunshots believed to be from Rodger were reported at 9:27PM. The rampage was said to be over then, and Rodger had died eight minutes after, the timeline said. 25 minutes after, Rodger's therapist saw the emailed manifesto. An 11-minute break was observed until the sheriff's office was contacted at 10:11PM.
Rodger's manifesto indicated that he removed most of his videos from YouTube following a visit by deputies on April 30. In the week leading up to the killings, he re-posted some of them.
Rodger himself provided an explanation in his manifesto that should the deputies would have been pushy with him and demanded a search of his room, the violent killings would not have happened. AP said the visit from the deputies lasted 10 minutes, with police saying that Rodgers explained the disturbing videos as a form of expression.
Retired Los Angeles police captain Rick Wall, who created the agency's procedures for responding to people who have mental problems, said that law enforcement officers should have looked at all available evidence while conducting investigations. He added, "Not that the final conclusion that they made on that day would have been any different, but something could have changed."
