--- description: Elliot Rodger's father thought he couldn't “could hurt a flea” title: Elliot Rodger Father Peter Looks Back on Isla Vista Santa Barbara Shooting image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt033c75cee9005212/698699a1cd68489fb5095708/elliot-rodger-dad-father-barbara-walters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Father of California Shooter: 'We Didn't See This Coming' by [Mirren Gidda](/author/mirren-gidda/) ## Mirren Gidda Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2014 4:34 PM CUT  Barbara Walters is shown interviewing Peter Rodger, the father of Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger, June 26, 2014. Barbara Walters is shown interviewing Peter Rodger, the father of Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger, June 26, 2014.Reuters by [Mirren Gidda](/author/mirren-gidda/) ## Mirren Gidda Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2014 4:34 PM CUT The father of the California shooter who [killed six during a rampage](http://time.com/135471/a-murderous-spree/ "undefined") in May said in a new interview that [he never saw it coming](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mental-illness-kids-spot-signs/story?id=24321922 "undefined"). “Every night I go to sleep, I wake up and I think of those young men and young women that have died and who are injured and who were terrorized,” Peter Rodger, the father of Elliot Rodger, told ABC News in an interview airing Friday. “And my son did that. My son caused so much pain and suffering for so many families. “We didn’t see this coming at all,” Rodger said, adding that he didn’t think his son “could hurt a flea.” Rodger went on a shooting and stabbing rampage in Isla Visa, Calif., on May 23, killing six and injuring 13 before taking his own life. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2933821/elliot-rodger-peter-isla-vista-shooting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2933821/elliot-rodger-peter-isla-vista-shooting/"},"headline":"Father of California Shooter: 'We Didn't See This Coming'","datePublished":"2014-06-27T16:34:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:40:25.967Z","description":"Elliot Rodger's father didn't think his son “could hurt a flea”","url":"https://time.com/2933821/elliot-rodger-peter-isla-vista-shooting/","keywords":["Crime","shooting","abc","elliot rodger","massacre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt033c75cee9005212/698699a1cd68489fb5095708/elliot-rodger-dad-father-barbara-walters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mirren Gidda","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mirren-gidda/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt033c75cee9005212/698699a1cd68489fb5095708/elliot-rodger-dad-father-barbara-walters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barbara Walters is shown interviewing Peter Rodger, the father of Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger in Los Angeles","caption":"Barbara Walters is shown interviewing Peter Rodger, the father of Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger in Los Angeles","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2933821/elliot-rodger-peter-isla-vista-shooting/","name":"Father of California Shooter: 'We Didn't See This Coming'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Who is the Isla Vista Shooter, Elliot Rodger?","description":"Elliot Rodger, the man suspected of killing seven people, including himself, near the UCSB campus spoke in a YouTube video about his plans shortly before Friday’s shooting spree.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eX4GuYwm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-25T16:17:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eX4GuYwm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2933821/elliot-rodger-peter-isla-vista-shooting/","duration":"PT1M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2933821/elliot-rodger-peter-isla-vista-shooting/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```