Estranged wife on UCLA shooter's 'kill list' found dead in Minnesota
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (KMSP) - A report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office states Ashley Hasti, the estranged wife of UCLA shooter Mainak Sarak, died from multiple gunshot wounds.
A woman named on a "kill list" of UCLA campus shooter Mainak Sarkar has been found dead in Minnesota, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday. Beck said a note was found at the scene of the UCLA murder-suicide asking the finder to check on a cat at Sarkar's St. Paul, Minn. apartment. A search of the apartment led to a kill list, which led police to the body of Ashley Hasti in Brooklyn Park, Minn.
Hennepin County vital records confirmed Sarkar and Hasti were married in June of 2011.
Brooklyn Park investigation
Police in Brooklyn Park confirmed that officers responded to the 2400 Block of Pearson Parkway at 12:34 a.m. Thursday to perform a welfare check on a request from LAPD. The welfare check was related to the recent shooting investigation on the UCLA campus. Officers found 31-year-old Ashley Hasti, a Brooklyn Park resident, dead from an apparent gunshot wound, and early indications are the shooting occurred prior to the UCLA incident.
Brooklyn Park Police believe Sarkar got into the home by breaking a window.
Brooklyn Park police, LAPD, the Hennepin County sheriff's crime lab and Hennepin County medical examiner's office are investigating the death.
At a noon press conference, Brooklyn Park Police Deputy Chief Mark Bruley confirmed the woman found dead in the Pearson Parkway home was on a "hit list" of the UCLA shooter. Bruley called the investigation "complex" and "sensitive" given the connection to the UCLA incident.
St. Paul home searched
St. Paul police confirm they executed a search warrant at 10:55 p.m. Wednesday night at an apartment building on Agate Street. LAPD Chief Beck said a search of Mainak Sarkar's home in St. Paul turned up a "kill list" with the names of Professor William Klug, another UCLA professor and a woman.
St. Paul police also confirmed that a suspicious package in a car found at the building was examined, but no threat was found.
Shooting of Prof. Klug
Chief Beck said Sarkar drove to Los Angeles from Minnesota with two guns and killed Professor Klug before killing himself. Beck said it appears mental issues were a factor and it appears Sarkar thought Professor Klug released intellectual property that harmed Sarkar.
Search for car with Minnesota plates
The LAPD is asking for the public's help in locating the car Sarkar drove to Los Angeles, a 2003 Nissan Sentra with Minnesota license plate 720KTW. Chief Beck said investigators believe the car may contain evidence that is critical to the UCLA and Brooklyn Park, Minn. death investigations. When asked if any crimes may have been committed en route from Minnesota to Los Angeles, Beck said "there is no immediate evidence that would suggest that, but that is of course one of the reasons we want to find the car."
UCLA shooting
The UCLA campus reopened Thursday and counseling will be offered to students and faculty following a day-long closure prompted by the deadly shooting of Professor William Klug at the School of Engineering. The gunman was Mainak Sarkar, a Ph.D student and a current member of the Klug Research Group; Computational Biomechanics, at UCLA. Sarkar took his own life after shooting the professor.