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U.S. NEWS Saturday 10 November 2018

Official: Shooter debated sanity online during bar massacre

By JONATHAN J. COOPER commented on whether
and MICHAEL BALSAMO mental illness played a role
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. in the rampage. But a men-
(AP) — The gunman who tal health specialist who as-
killed 12 people at a coun- sessed Long after sheriff's
try music bar in Southern deputies responded to a
California went on social call about his agitated be-
media during the attack havior last spring worried
and posted about his men- he might be suffering from
tal state and whether peo- post-traumatic stress disor-
ple would believe he was der.
sane, a law enforcement The incident happened in
official said Friday. April, when yelling and loud
Also, one of the possibili- banging noises coming
ties investigators are look- from the home Long shared
ing into is whether gunman with his mother prompted
Ian David Long believed his a next-door neighbor to
former girlfriend would be call authorities. The mental
at the bar, the official said. health specialist conclud-
Authorities have not de- ed there were no grounds
termined a motive for to have him involuntarily
Wednesday's night ram- committed.
page at the Borderline Bar At the White House, Trump
and Grill. touted his efforts to fund
The official — who was work on PTSD among vet- Ventura County Sheriff's Office Capt. Garo Kuredjian, left, embraces chaplains with the Billy Gra-
briefed on the investigation erans. He declined to en- ham Rapid Response Team (RRT) as they pray near the site of Wednesday's mass shooting in
but not authorized to dis- gage on questions on Thousand Oaks, Calif., Friday Nov. 9, 2018.
cuss it publicly and spoke whether the nation needs Associated Press
to The Associated Press stricter gun control laws.
on condition of anonym- The dead in the shooting fornia. "Every Marine is a but avoided speaking with phone he said was his.
ity — would not give addi- rampage included sheriff's marksman." Ian Long. "I literally feared for myself
tional details on what the Sgt. Ron Helus, a 29-year Julie Hanson, who lives next "I told my wife, 'Just be po- around him," Colell said
28-year-old former Marine veteran gunned down as door to the Longs' ranch- lite to him. If he talks, just in an interview. "He was
posted on his Facebook he entered the bar, and style home, described him acknowledge him, don't the only athlete that I was
and Instagram accounts. Telemachus Orfanos, 27, as "odd" and "disrespectful" go into conversation with scared of."
Neither Facebook nor Ins- who survived last year's well before he left home a him,'" Don MacLeod said. Colell said she wanted to
tagram had any immedi- massacre in Las Vegas, decade ago, got married Long made others feel un- kick Long off the team but
ate comment. where a gunman in a high- and enlisted in the Marines. comfortable going back to the boy's coach urged her
Long, a former machine rise hotel opened killed She could often hear him his teens. to reconsider because that
gunner who served in Af- 58 people at an outdoor yelling and cursing, but sev- Dominique Colell, who could compromise his goal
ghanistan, opened fire with country music festival. eral months ago unusually coached girls' track and of joining the Marines. She
a handgun during college Authorities in Thousand loud banging and shouting field at the high school relented when, at the next
night at the bar, then ap- Oaks described an assault prompted her husband to where Long was a sprinter, track meet, Long apolo-
parently killed himself as of military efficiency. None call authorities. remembers an angry young gized in front of several
scores of police officers of those injured was hurt by "I was concerned because man who could be verbally coaches and administra-
closed in. gunfire, authorities said. In- I knew he had been in the and physically combative. tors.
As investigators worked to stead, when Long shot, he military," Tom Hanson said. In one instance, Colell said Attempts to get comment
figure out what set him off, killed. About 18 months ago, Don Long used his fingers to by phone and in person
President Donald Trump "Every Marine is trained in and Effie MacLeod heard mimic shooting her in the from officials at Newbury
blamed mental illness, de- urban warfare and indoor "an awful argument" and back of the head as she Park High School and its
scribing the gunman as "a gun fighting," said Marc what he believes was a talked to another athlete. school district were unsuc-
very sick puppy" who had Bender, an instructor for gunshot from the Longs' In another, he grabbed her cessful — both were closed
"a lot of problems." emergency responders property. Don MacLeod rear and mid-section after due to a destructive wild-
Investigators have not in Riverside County, Cali- said he did not call police she refused to return a cell- fire in the area.q