Indian-American gunman shot dead wife before killing UCLA professor

Los Angeles, June 3: Indian-American Maik Sarkar had killed his wife in Minnesota before driving over 3,000 km to the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) where he shot dead a professor and then turned the gun on himself. Both the victims were on his "kill list", officials said.

Sarkar, 38, an IIT Kharagpur graduate, had killed his wife Ashley Hasti, who was found dead in Brooklyn Park, in Minnesota, police said on Thursday. Sarkar later fatally shot engineering professor William Klug, 39, in his office at the UCLA on Wednesday. Klug had refused to give him a passing grade.

Hasti and Sarkar married on June 14, 2011, Hennepin county Communications Officer Carolyn Marin said.

However, it was unclear if they were still married at the time of their deaths.

Police who searched Sarkar's Minnesota home found a note with an ominous title "Kill list". It had the mes of three people including Klug and Hasti, according Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck.

Hasti had a gunshot wound and was apparently been killed before the UCLA shooting, Deputy Police Chief Mark Bruley said.

Sarkar had apparently driven 3,220 km from Minnesota to Los Angeles in his car to shoot Klug.

The third person Sarkar intended to target was another professor at UCLA, Beck said. That faculty member was off-campus on Wednesday and was unharmed, the police chief said. Beck said that "a dispute over intellectual property" was tied to the UCLA shooting, which put the campus on lockdown for hours on Wednesday. (IANS)