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Santa Monica shooter ID'd: If you're expecting a Swedish Baptist, you're in for a shock
At Olympic High, Santa Monica's alternative school for students who have struggled in traditional programs, inappropriate behavior is not uncommon. But what a veteran English teacher saw on the computer screen of a student named John Zawahri stopped him cold.The solitary teen who regularly ditched class was surfing the Internet for assault weapons, the teacher recalled Monday. Alarmed, he sent Zawahri to the principal's office. Within days, the police were involved and Zawahri was admitted to UCLA's psychiatric ward. Zawahri... Zawahri... Where have I heard that name before? The teacher, who requested anonymity, on Monday recounted the 2006 incident at Olympic as Santa Monica College reopened its campus after a deadly rampage Friday in which authorities say Zawahri, armed with an assault rifle, gunned down five people. With the last of those victims identified, the focus turned to what motivated Zawahri, who was shot to death by police outside the college library, and how he obtained the rifle and another weapon. Authorities are tracing two firearms used by Zawahri. One weapon was a .44-caliber handgun that a federal law enforcement official described as a "curio- or relic-type" weapon that might have been in the shooter's family for years. The second was an AR-15 type semiautomatic rifle. Investigators are looking into whether Zawahri's possession of the gun was prohibited under California's long-standing assault weapons ban. The rifle was being examined Monday at the Sheriff's Department crime lab, a local law enforcement source said. Good idea. Just call it a learning experience. We'll probably need new laws to protect us from this sort of thing in the future. "We've been at his house, going through his computer too," the federal official said. Authorities want to know how Zawahri, an unemployed 23-year-old with what associates said was a history of mental problems, obtained vast quantities of ammunition. Several sources said Zawahri had 40 large-capacity magazines in pouches in his clothing and in a bag he carried. Each magazine held about 30 rounds. The ammunition was strapped to his body including his chest and thighs as well as in pouches in his clothing and protective vest, they added. Posted by: Frozen Al 2013-06-11 |
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