Advertisement

O.C. shootings: Police probe suspect’s computer, gaming records

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Authorities said they were reviewing computers and gaming records of a 20-year-old college student believed to have killed three people in a shooting rampage before taking his own life.

The man, Ali Syed of Ladera Ranch, was described by authorities as a ‘loner’ and ‘gamer’ who ‘spent a lot of time alone in his room playing video games.’

Advertisement

Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said investigators do not know what set off Syed. He left ‘no evidence, no note, no nothing that would explain this very bizarre, violent behavior,’ Amormino said.

PHOTOS: Shootings at multiple locations in O.C.

‘There’s still a lot of work to do in this case,’ Amormino said

A woman who was shot and killed at Syed’s home, apparently his first victim, was identified as Courtney Aoki, 20, of Buena Park.

A former teacher remembered Aoki as a talented student.

When she was a freshman at Renaissance High School for the Arts in Long Beach, Aoki demonstrated an appreciation for literature that was rare for a teenager, said English teacher J.C. Marquez.

MAP: Orange County shootings

Whether it was analyzing Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ or doing a table read of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ Aoki was consistently focused, Marquez said.

Advertisement

‘She just seemed to get it and she wanted to absorb more of it,’ he said of Aoki’s classroom demeanor.

Marquez described Aoki as a polite student at a small school for artistic children who might have been picked on at other places. She wore Dr. Martens boots with dresses and ‘did her own thing,’ he said.

Syed, who had no criminal record, lived with his parents in Ladera Ranch. His parents called 911 about 4:45 a.m.

TIMELINE: Deadliest U.S. mass shootings

‘We were asleep, we heard something,’ Syed’s father told a 911 operator in a call released by authorities. ‘It sounded like a gunshot.’ Syed left in an SUV, authorities said, and committed a series of violent carjackings in Tustin and Santa Ana that left two people dead and three others wounded. Syed killed himself in Orange County, authorities said.

Amormino said an autopsy determined that Syed died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head with a 12-gauge shotgun. Aoki was shot multiple times, authorities said. The body was clothed, authorities said.

Advertisement

Detectives had difficulty identifying Aoki, Amormino said, because she had no identification with her and no vehicle at the Ladera Ranch residence. There were no missing persons reports and the first set of fingerprints taken from the body yielded no results.

Amormino said Aoki was identified Wednesday morning after taking a second set of fingerprints, but authorities were not able to locate her mother until about 2:30 p.m.

ALSO: Funeral set today for deputy killed in Dorner shootout

Hotel guests horrified after tourist’s body is found in water tank

O.C. shootings: Friends, former teacher shocked at woman’s death — Kate Mather and Nicole Santa Cruz

Photos, from top: Jim Amormino, Orange County sheriff’s spokesman, updates the media on Tuesday’s shooting rampage at a news conference outside the Tustin Police Department; shooting victim Courtney Aoki. Credits. Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times; Orange County Sheriff’s Department

Advertisement
Advertisement