SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A PhD student who shot and killed a professor before killing himself claimed that the professor had stolen his code:
The student who shot and killed his engineering professor and then himself at a Los Angeles university had accused the professor of stealing his code.
In a blog post on March 10, Mainak Sarkar, 38, said Professor William Klug, 39, "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." He continued: "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." The post has since been taken down.
On Wednesday, nearly three months after posting it, and seemingly upset at poor grades, Sarkar drove from his home in Minnesota to Los Angeles where he confronted and gunned down Professor Klug at the university's engineering complex. Sarkar then turned the gun on himself and killed himself. The Los Angeles Times quoted an unnamed UCLA source as saying the allegation that Klug stole his student's code was "absolutely untrue."
The professor's name was found on a "kill list" written by Sarkar, along with another professor who wasn't on campus at the time of the shooting and has been confirmed to be safe. Sarkar reportedly killed his estranged wife in Minnesota before traveling to UCLA. Also at Los Angeles Times , The New York Times , CNN.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday June 03 2016, @10:57PM
One of our local unis had a semi-crazy person hanging around the business school, with the idea he thought would both make him rich and save the world (he was the only person who thought this). He would come onto campus and use as many of the public lab computers as he could, without ever logging in or saving anything, so unsurprisingly his work would be cleared off the lab computers once he left.
The guy got it in his head that the system administrator for the school was stealing his work and I think turning it over to the Illuminati or whatever grand conspiracy he decided was behind the fact that his work was disappearing. He'd even filed a lawsuit to try to stop this, which was of course dismissed. So he decided to engage in some good old-fashioned lethal violence, walked into the school, and opened fire, hunting for the administrator in question. The adminstrator was among those who got shot at, but managed to get into a locked back room with the students and staff, and hid in a not-at-all-safe darkened room.
Final count: 1 dead, 2 wounded, none of them the targets but just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The administrator in question had a serious mental breakdown, and dropped out of a local organization I'm now involved with, so he qualifies as a friend-of-a-friend. I sometimes think about that: He was just some dude doing his job, and before he knew it was dodging bullets and felt semi-responsible for a 30-year-old's death, so I'm not surprised he decided to rethink his life.
I wish I knew what switch gets flipped in somebody's brain that convinces themselves to go out guns blazing. But there's no question it happens, and it's often over really stupid stuff.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 03 2016, @11:16PM
> I wish I knew what switch gets flipped in somebody's brain that convinces themselves to go out guns blazing.
Here's an interesting theory:
A 3 minute video about mental illness and 'capture.' [vimeo.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 04 2016, @01:05AM
People get crazy and do stupid things. Sometimes they're sick, sometimes they're assholes. That's the real lesson of gun control. Easy access to guns makes these people more lethal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 04 2016, @05:35AM
I'm sorry, but that's a clear instance of society (and the particular institution) failing to engage someone who is obviously crazy. Since there was even a lawsuit from this person, it's obvious he believed what he was saying, and I would have at least had security accompany him every time he showed up.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday June 04 2016, @10:36AM
Hard to do that when the way he got in was to bust down one of the doors with a mallet he'd brought along for that specific purpose.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.