LAPD confirmed the shooter to be Mainak Sarkar, a 38-year-old former doctoral student at the university, Thursday.
Klug was an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Sarkar accused Klug of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else, the L.A. Times reported.
“William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor. He is a very sick person," Sarkar wrote on social media, according to the L.A. Times. "I urge every new student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy. 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.”
Sarkar also referred to Klug as a "very sick person."
"Bill was an absolutely wonderful man, just the nicest guy you would ever want to meet," said UCLA professor Alan Garfinkel. "Devoted family man, superb mentor and teacher to so many students. He was my close colleague and friend. Our research together was to build a computer model of the heart, a 50 million variable 'virtual heart' that could be used to test drugs."
Thursday, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told KTLA that investigators found a “kill list” in Sarkar’s Minnesota residence.
"Early indications are the shooting occurred prior to the UCLA event," police said.
Beck said Sarkar, who may have been suffering mental issues, drove to the UCLA campus from Minnesota with two guns.
A second UCLA professor, whose identity has not been released, was on the list.
Beck said that professor "is fine."
Before enrolling at UCLA, Sarkar earned an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and a master’s degree at Stanford University, according to his LinkedIn page. Sarkar's LinkedIn profile also indicates he worked as a research assistant at the University of Texas and as a software developer.
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