The gunman who killed UCLA engineering professor William Klug before committing suicide on June 1 has been identified as Mainak Sarkar, a 38-year-old graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur, Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
Sarkar is now also suspected in the killing of a woman in Minnesota, according to Reuters.
The former UCLA doctoral student reportedly had a “kill list” at his home in Minnesota, which included the names of two UCLA professors, and that of a woman who has been found dead in Brooklyn Park, north of Minneapolis.
“In the residence in Minnesota, we found multiple items, including extra ammunition and also a note with names on it indicating a kill list,” Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck told Los Angeles television station KTLA. “Professor Klug’s name was on that list, as was another UCLA professor who was alright.”
The attack on Klug was reportedly provoked because Sarkar believed that the professor had stolen a computer code from him, Reuters said. In a blog post dated March 10, which appears to have been written by Sarkar, he said:
“William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor.
He is a very sick person. I urge every student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy.”
“My name is Mainik Sarkar. 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”
According to several media reports, Sarkar’s LinkedIn profile (which is no longer available) indicated he graduated from IIT-Kharagpur in 2000 with a degree in aerospace engineering, and that he finished his master’s in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University in 2005 before going to UCLA to study mechanical engineering.