California gunman 'was filmmaker Peter Rodger's son'

[okaawhatever]

Source: BBC

A Hollywood filmmaker believes his son carried out drive-by shootings that killed six people in California late on Friday, a family lawyer says.

Peter Rodger, who was assistant director on The Hunger Games, thinks the attacker was his 22-year-old son Elliot, the statement said.

SNIP

Authorities have not confirmed the identity of the gunman, or that of the young man seen in the YouTube video.

But Peter Rodger's lawyer, Alan Shifman, said on Saturday that the "family believes the child was the perpetrator".

He said the son had Asperger's syndrome, had trouble making friends and had been receiving professional help.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27561127

[heaven05]

1. always an excuse

where and how did he get the weapon(s) to do this terrible deed?

[totodeinhere]

5. He was able to legally purchase three different firearms

from federally licensed gun dealers.

[Fred Sanders]

15. Any 22 year old allowed 3 guns legally is living in a horribly gone wrong country.

[adieu]

17. Agreed.

There is nothing "well regulated militia" about a twenty-something buying guns without cause.

[bossy22]

19. 22 year old is a legal adult

In many countries someone of this age is able to own weapons.

Have a problem with it...why not raise the age of majority to 25?

[7962]

20. And a rich kid of any age would be able to get a gun regardless of the law.

[bossy22]

27. probably

this wasn't an "in the moment" crime. This was truly another columbine, a pre-meditated heavily planned crime. Remember, getting a handgun in california isn't like buying groceries. You need to take a safety course, pass a background check and go through a 10-day waiting period.

[MrMickeysMom]

55. Better still...

Why not have someone who is being treated be evaluated to confirm with your credentials that others are safe around said person in treatment driving an automobile OR owning guns.

[FailureToCommunicate]

23. Agreed. This thread was going in a sane direction till the NRA apologists erupted

Last edited Sun May 25, 2014, 10:41 AM - Edit history (1)

Oh well...

Not refering to you, just reacting to this and several other threads on the shootings: Sane comments on one side, tired repetition of NRA talking points on the other: "But, but, but, it's mental health funding that's needed, your stats are old, crime is going DOWN, Constitutional rights, guns are for self defense from other gun crazys, Most are responsible, Gun shows are just the American way of free commerce, etc,etc,etc,

[bossy22]

24. how is pointing out that 22 year olds are legal adults

And entitled to all rights and privileges that come with it an NRA apologist? In almost any western nation (including the UK) this individual would have been able to acquire a firearm LEGALLY. From what it appears, at the time of the purchase, there was nothing in his background that would arise any suspicion

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

32. Give us a good reason -- heck, give us a bad reason -- for a random 22-year-old to need 3 handguns

[7962]

35. There may not be a "reason", but there's also no way to stop it.

The genie is out of the bottle; 300 million guns. You could make them all illegal tomorrow and they'd still be here and bad people would either have them or be able to get them. Especially a rich guy like this one. Now if we'd changed things 100 yrs ago, things might be different, but we didnt.

[bossy22]

36. ill give you three....one for each gun

Gun 1- self defense
Gun 2- target shooting
Gun 3- collectors item

[Ikonoklast]

39. You didn't mention the actual reason, however.

Killing innocent people.

[ManiacJoe]

47. You don't need three for that, just one.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

51. He didn't mention 4. Machismo.

[totodeinhere]

41. There is no good reason. But for that matter there is no good reason why any

regular citizen of any age should need to own three handguns. I think the point some of us are trying to make is that our gun laws apply equally to anyone of a majority age, whether that age be 22 or 82.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

45. I like the gun laws they have in Switzerland

Unless you can demonstrate an actual need for a handgun, you can't have one. Or the gun laws they have in the UK, which says essentially that unless you are a policeman or in the military, you cannot have a handgun.

After the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania, which left 35 killed and 23 wounded, the Australians enacted some draconian gun laws.

Of course, this would never fly with the gun nuts in the US, since keeping their precious firearms are more important that other people keeping their precious lives. Gun nuts really don't give a damn about other people.

[24601]

49. Why does anyone in the US "need" to make a speech, peacefully assemble, worship as they see fit?

That's the difference between rights and privileges. And per D.C. v. Heller, firearm ownership is an individual right not predicated on militia service. It's settled law, right. If not, how could Roe v. Wade be settled law?

The legal issue is Stare Decisis (let stand the decision). Are you willing to overturn Heller if the cost is overturning reproductive choice?

http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/s065.htm

From the above reference: "It is . . . a fundamental jurisprudential policy that prior applicable precedent usually must be followed even though the case, if considered anew, might be decided differently by the current justices. This policy . . . 'is based on the assumption that certainty, predictability and stability in the law are the major objectives of the legal system; i.e., that parties should be able to regulate their conduct and enter into relationships with reasonable assurance of the governing rules of law.'"

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

50. Free speech, free assembly, free worship DO NOT KILL PEOPLE

Handguns have only that purpose. So you have a false equivalence.

The Australian who committed the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, killing 35 and wounding 23, used an AR-15. There is NO civilian use for such a weapon, and ownership by civilians should be banned. But you gun nuts would rather more people be killed than reason be followed. As I keep saying, you don't give a damn about other people.

[FailureToCommunicate]

40. I didn't make it clear. I was agreeing with the poster, and adding a reaction to these recent

threads.

[Schema Thing]

2. And btw, contrary to media reports, an "Assistant Director" is not a "Director"

Assistant Directors are not junior Directors just about to become Directors, they don't step in if the Director has a sick day. They don't usually graduate into being a Director. It is a profession unto itself.

It's not considered a creative position but rather it's a very working class technical/managerial position with a ton of responsibility. It pays well if one stays busy; at the very very top of the field someone might make 300k, but that is probably rare and most probably make at or under (maybe well under) 100K.

[okaawhatever]

3. Thx for the info. nt

[zonkers]

4. Why should the facts get in the way of a tawdry hollywood narrative.

[Dopers_Greed]

7. This is exactly what I thought

I work in film/video production...Director and Assistant Director are two completely different jobs.

[GeoWilliam750]

10. This one appears to have done better than 100k

His son had a BMW and was living away from his parents. Maybe his mother had a very good income.

[Schema Thing]

12. Could be. It's senseless to try and guess very much from very little information.

The kid did not grow up in poverty or w/o opportunity, we know this. We don't know more than that yet.

[Fred Sanders]

16. The Media does not care for facts, sir, they are head hunters and headline hunters only.

[ballyhoo]

25. They work themselves silly. It was AD this

and AD that-- When I was doing extra work for two years, I sometimes would never even see the Director. I feel badly for everyone that this happened. I don't know anything about Aspergers Syndrome, but I will before this weekend is over.

[cui bono]

26. Yes. They are more likely to move into producing or procuction managing than directing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. He was, however, the director of "Oh My God"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3201913/

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/oh-my-god

It seems pointless to quibble about whether he was more of an 'Assistant Director' than 'Director'.

[Lodestar]

34. Is it common for their income to include a percentage of the film's profits above salary?

Not sure how contracts are structured in that industry.

[Schema Thing]

38. I don't believe so.

Perhaps on lower budget movies where they take a cut in pay?

[LiberalElite]

43. In other words,

more of an "assistant" than "director"?

[Schema Thing]

44. hmmm, I'd say 50/50, but they often boss the actual Director around, lol -

such is their responsibility.


It's just a totally different job position than the actual film Director. I think a good analogy would be a foreman vs an architect on a building project.

[Cha]

6. How sad.. :(

[exboyfil]

8. It is reported than when they

saw the videos they reported him to the police who interviewed him. I am not entirely sure what more a family can do with an adult son in such a situation. What are the committal procedures in California?

[lunasun]

22. +1 thanks for info

[2naSalit]

9. Hmmm...

"family believes the child was the perpetrator".

And

22-year-old son

Say what?

[riderinthestorm]

11. I'd guess bad editing before leaping to conclusions. Probably was "their" child instead of "the"

My adult daughter will always be my "child"....



How awful for the family nonetheless... pretty courageous to finger your own son for committing such horror knowing what media scrutiny will follow. Enough to tear families apart beyond the murderous family member's despicable act. I feel bad for them. There's so few services for families once a troubled adult family member goes bad...

[2naSalit]

13. I was wondering if

it was just editing or if the atty is trying to inject some sympathy for the perp here. I just think it was a bit odd to call a 22yr old a child in a case of this nature.

It is tragic for the family. Looking at some of the info coming out, he seems to have lived away from his parents... makes it kind of hard to monitor what he's doing if he lives elsewhere. Then again, if the parents are in LA and he's in SB, that's a little bit of a drive.

Having a family member who does something heinous is hard to deal with when it was them and the public jumps on the flame-out band wagon. Not that my opinion means anything in this issue, I wasn't there, don't know any of these folks, can't change what happened.

[riderinthestorm]

14. .

[adieu]

18. Anytime a child dies before

The parent, the parent will most likely refer to the child as "my child".

[2naSalit]

28. But that's not what is indicated here

or so it seemed to me upon reading then re-reading it...

But Peter Rodger's lawyer, Alan Shifman, said on Saturday that the "family believes the child was the perpetrator".

Perhaps an error on the part of the speaking party who may want to leave a door open for sympathy... it was an attorney after all.

[seveneyes]

21. had been receiving professional help???

Neither professional nor help would describe allowing this loose cannon to get guns and roam free. He should have been locked up on the first verbal or written threat.

[Skittles]

29. my sympathy to Peter Rodger and all his loved ones

I cannot imagine

[Helen Borg]

30. Asperger's made it difficult to socialize

But it did not directly lead to the violence. That was caused by some other problems he had.

[SheilaT]

52. Yes. I have a son with Asperger's

and he is the least violent person you could ever meet.

Adam Lanza was supposed to have Asperger's also. I am truly disturbed by the blithe Asperger's diagnosis connected to this sorts of extreme violence.
There is something else also going on, because the difficulty socializing and this sort of acting out are two totally different things.

[durablend]

33. The only solution of course...

MOAR GUNS!!!!

[bossy22]

37. or we could work on a way to make better use of the 5150 hold

[savalez]

42. The parents reported him to the Police a month ago.

Alan Schifman, the lawyer for the Rodger family, said he was being treated by several therapists and recently his parents and a social worker had become so alarmed by his behavior and his videos that they had reported him to police.

http://abc13.com/news/ucsb-shooting-suspect-calls-loneliness-darkest-hell/76527/

I'd like to know what actions the police took.

[lululu]

46. they went there, talked to him

decided he was harmless.

I haven't seen the videos, but their descriptions sound like he should have been whisked off and committed. Hard to do that nowadays, however, thanks to Ronnie Reagan. I wonder if the cops watched them.

[savalez]

48. Somebody effed up.

I mean someone somewhere down the line made the decision that he was harmless. I wonder what they based that on. I hope it all comes out.

[former9thward]

53. Doesn't it get old to blame Reagan for events 25 years after he left power?

Especially since the de-institutional movement began in the mid-60s, long before Reagan, and was motivated by lawsuits filed by organizations wanting civil rights for mentally ill people. Reagan went out of power on Jan. 20, 1989. Is it too uncomfortable to blame people who followed him since they clearly did not reverse whatever he did?

[Retrograde]

54. And he was governor in the late 60s/early 70s

Getting on 40 years ago. Yeah, I think he was one of our worst presidents and no great shakes as governor, but it's been close to two generations ago.

I don't think we should go back to the old attitude of "if someone's behaving in non-socially approved ways lock them up", especially since that caught up a number of people who weren't dangers to themselves or others, just different in some ways. But there are people on the streets who shouldn't be there, who do have negative effects on society at large, and have no safety net. Much as I like to point a finger at St. Ronnie, there's plenty of blame to go around.