UCLA gunman's car has been located in Culver City

CULVER CITY, CA (CNS) - UCLA gunman Mainak Sarkar's car was located today in Culver City, prompting police to cordon off the area surrounding the vehicle and dispatch a bomb squad to search it.

Investigators have been looking for the silver-gray Nissan Sentra, registered in Sarkar's home state of Minnesota, since he fatally shot a UCLA professor in a campus office shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The 2003 Nissan was located by Los Angeles police on Washington Place just west of Sawtelle Boulevard, according to a desk officer at the Culver City Police Department.

A bomb squad was summoned to examine the car, according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Liliana Preciado, who said the vehicle was located about 1:50 p.m.

Police say Sarkar drove from Minnesota to California after killing his estranged wife and before killing one of his former professors, William S. Klug, then himself.

A second UCLA professor was on a "kill list" found in Sarkar's home in St. Paul, Minnesota, but he was not harmed, police said. That educator's name has not been released.

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that Sarkar, 38, likely killed the woman in Minnesota several days ago, then drove to California. Beck said at the time that he believes the car does not present any danger, but police today were acting with an abundance of caution.

The woman who was named on the so-called kill list and whose body was found at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, was 31-year-old medical student Ashley Hasti. She and Sarkar were married on June 14, 2011, but they later separated, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

At UCLA, the engineering school will hold a vigil at 4 p.m. today at the Court of Sciences to remember Klug, a 39-year-old El Segundo resident and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who was reported to be highly popular with students and colleagues.

A vigil for Klug was also held on campus Thursday night, organized by the school's Undergraduate and Graduate Student Associations and attended by more than 1,000 people, according to the school's online newspaper. The
attendees included Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Councilman Paul Koretz and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
"Stay open to the world," Garcetti told the crowd. "Don't cower. Don't be afraid. We can't predict when moments happen like this, but we can determine how we respond to them. You responded beautifully and strongly
yesterday. Continue that strength."

Block said, "This is a great community. UCLA students, you are an incredible group of individuals. You give us strength. This is a sad moment, but I am so proud of you."

Beck said Thursday that Sarkar was heavily armed, carrying two semiautomatic pistols -- one used in the murder-suicide and another in his backpack. He was also carrying ammunition magazines and loose rounds of
ammunition, indicating he was poised to perpetrate more violence. The guns were legally purchased in Minnesota, according to the LAPD.

A note found by the bodies of Sarkar and Klug in a small office in UCLA's Boelter Hall "doesn't refer to suicide," but it included an instruction to check on Sarkar's cat -- leading authorities to his Minnesota residence and the "kill list," and ultimately leading to the discovery of the woman's body, Beck said.

Sarkar was a former doctoral student of Klug's and a current member of the Klug Research Group; Computational Biomechanics, at UCLA, according to a Klug Research Group publication. He had accused the victim of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else, according to an online blog post
he wrote on March 10.

"My name is Mainak Sarkar. I was this guy's PhD student. We had personal differences. He cleverly stole all my code and gave it to another student," he wrote, adding: "He is a very sick person ... I urge every new
student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy."

A source told the Los Angeles Times that the gunman's claims about Klug were "absolutely untrue."

"The idea that somebody took his ideas is absolutely psychotic," the source said, adding that Klug bent over backwards to help Sarkar finish his dissertation and graduate even though the quality of his work was not stellar.

"Bill was a super nice guy," the source said. "He didn't want to hurt the guy."

In his doctoral dissertation, submitted in 2013, Sarkar expressed gratitude to Klug for his help and support, The Times reported.

Beck said investigators are aware of Sarkar's online postings, but they did not include any threats that might have triggered a UCLA or police investigation. He noted that Sarkar graduated from UCLA in 2013.

Klug was married with two children, aged 9 and 7.

"During this extremely difficult time for our family, we are grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support," Klug's wife, Mary Elise Klug, said in a statement released through UCLA.

"This is an indescribable loss. Bill was so much more than my soulmate. I will miss him every day for the rest of my life. Knowing that so many others share our family's sorrow has provided a measure of comfort.

"That said, we are a very private family, and we need time to heal and recover from this senseless tragedy. At this time, we ask the media to please respect our family's privacy in and around our home, school and local community during the days and weeks ahead, especially for the sake of my children."

According to Klug's online biography, he earned a bachelor's degree from Westmont College in 1998, a master's at UCLA in 1999 and a doctorate from Caltech in 2003.

The Klug-Sarkar murder suicide triggered fears that at least one gunman was on a rampage and prompted a massive law enforcement response.

The building where the shooting occurred is part of the Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The entire campus was placed on lockdown when the shots rang out, along with three Los Angeles Unified School District schools nearby.