UCSB Plans Memorial for Mass-Murder Victims

A California university is holding a day of mourning and reflection Tuesday for the six victims killed last week when a man went went on a stabbing and shooting rampage before killing itself.

The University of California, Santa Barbara will also hold a memorial service at 4 p.m. local time.

“This is a period of mourning for all of us,” UCSB chancellor Henry Yang and interim executive vice chancellor Joel Michaelsen wrote in a letter to the school community, posted on Sunday on the school’s website. “The moving candlelight vigil that our students organized on Saturday evening began the process of healing. On Tuesday we will remember and honor the victims of this horrible event and come together as an academic community to reflect, talk with each other and think about the future.”

Police say Elliot Rodger, 22, planned and executed a spree of murders near the university’s campus on Friday night. His roommates—Cheng Yuan Hong, George Chen and Weihan Wang—were stabbed to death at the apartment they shared with Rodger. Police say Rodger then shot and killed Veronika Elizabeth Weiss and Katherine Breann Cooper outside the Alpha Phi sorority house before killing Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez at a convenience store. All the victims were students at the school.

After exchanging gunfire with Rodger, authorities found him dead in his car, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Rodger had videotaped himself ranting about his peers and uploaded it to YouTube before the shooting and left behind a long biography full of rage.