IN a bombshell ENQUIRER world exclusive, an intense news investigation reveals why deranged “Virgin Killer” Elliot Rodger snapped – and how authorities could have prevented the massacre that shocked America!
Son of a Hollywood movie director who worked on the hit film “The Hunger Games,” which ironically has bloodthirsty teens killing each other, the 22-year-old college student was spurred on by the industry’s glorification of violence, experts say.
And law enforcement sources told The ENQUIRER that twisted Rodger “wanted to be a movie star” – and he emulated Patrick Bateman, the murderous character played by Christian Bale in “American Psycho,” who brutally butchered girls after having sex!
“I blame Hollywood,” psychologist Dr. Keith D. Kanner, an expert in adolescent development, told The ENQUIRER. “We have research showing that kids who are exposed to violent games, TV and movies tend to be more impulsive and violent.”
Dejected over his abysmal failure with women, cops say deranged Rodger heartlessly slaughtered six innocent victims and grievously wounded 13 others before killing himself in the horrific May 23 bloodbath.
In a chilling 141-page manifesto and a YouTube video Rodger posted online before his rampage in Santa Barbara, Calif., he confessed with disgust that he was a virgin who had “never even kissed a girl” and that he planned to reap vengeance by “slaughtering women” at a sorority.
“For the last eight years of my life, since I hit puberty, I’ve been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires, all because girls have never been attracted to me,” Rodger, the son of “The Hunger Games” assistant director Peter Rodger, wrote in the manifesto: “Girls gave their affection and sex and love to other men – never to me…I’ve had to rot in loneliness. It’s not fair.”
Rodger vowed vengeance, and cops say the Santa Barbara City College student began his murderous quest by slashing and stabbing to death his three roommates at his Isla Vista apartment. He then drove his pricey BMW to the Alpha Phi sorority house, where he coldbloodedly snuffed out the lives of Katie Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19.
After killing Christopher Martinez at a nearby deli, Rodger exchanged gunfire with cops. He was wounded in the hip but continued driving and randomly shooting at pedestrians. He ran over two men on skateboards and hit two bicyclists, one of whom crashed into his windshield, shattering it.
Rodger eventually wrecked his car. Police riddled the vehicle with bullets but found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
There were two Sig Sauer P226 pistols, a Glock 34 semi-automatic and 400 unspent rounds of ammunition in his car, leading authorities to believe he intended to murder many more before his deadly trail of devastation came to an end.
Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown called it “premeditated mass murder” and added: “It’s obviously the work of a madman.”
While the deadly outburst may have been initially triggered by Rodger’s
frustrations with women, experts tell The ENQUIRER that he was no doubt spurred on by the “culture of violence” that Hollywood has created through gore-drenched movies, TV shows and video games.
On Rodger’s “day of retribution,” his parents read his crazed manifesto and YouTube rants, which he had emailed to them and others, and frantically began driving to his home in an attempt to stop him. Tragically, they were too late. On the way, they heard on their car radio the first terrifying reports of the murderous assaults.
Meanwhile, The ENQUIRER learned that the tragedy could have been stopped.
Said the law enforcement source: “Police missed a crucial opportunity in April to stop the massacre after receiving an alert from one of Rodger’s therapists. Like Sandy Hook Elementary School killer Adam Lanza, Rodger suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of autism. Six cops visited him to check on his mental stability, but nothing came of it!”
Alan Shifman, the attorney representing Peter Rodger said: “My client’s mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from ever happening again. This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses.”
“There is no question – Hollywood has to share the blame for this tragedy,” psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky told the ENQUIRER. “Someone who is already disturbed, who is exposed to all the violence that Hollywood promotes – that’s where you get a potential serial killer or mass murderer.”
Dr. Kanner, who also is a certified life coach, added: “We have to do a better job to protect kids from being saturated with violence through TV, movies, the Internet and video games. They are having a serious effect.
“Rodger’s father was the assistant director of a movie that featured teenagers murdering other kids. It must be horrible to be his father today.”
