LOS ANGELES (AP) — Investigators on Tuesday plan to release a more detailed timeline of a mass shooting at a Southern California bar that killed 12 people in the first news conference since the week of the Nov. 7 attack.
Investigators haven’t said what they believe motivated 28-year-old Ian David Long to open fire at the Borderline Bar and Grill in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks. Long, who killed himself, posted on social media about whether people would think he was insane.
Investigators have interviewed hundreds of witnesses, gathered bullet casings, surveillance video, and other evidence from the scene of the shooting, as well as seized items from Long’s home, including electronic devices, said Ventura County sheriff’s Capt. Garo Kuredjian.
Detectives hope evidence taken from the house helps them learn why Long carried out the attack, and that evidence from the bar better explains how he carried it out.
“There’s a process of both interviewing the people and getting the information investigators obtain and consolidating those to develop a timeline and if we can discover what the motivation was for this attack,” Kuredjian said. “They’ve been doing that pretty much around the clock since it happened.”
Their work continued in spite of a wildfire that erupted just hours after the shooting, forcing FBI investigators and local sheriff’s detectives to evacuate.
“They didn’t miss a beat,” said Kuredjian, who also had to evacuate.
Long, a former machine gunner and Afghanistan war veteran, attacked the Borderline Bar on a busy weekday night, firing into the crowd as some hurled barstools through windows to escape. Those killed included sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, one of the first officers to arrive in response to 911 calls.
Neighbors said Long made them uncomfortable and even called 911 on him in April. Responding deputies found Long behaving angrily and irrationally but a mental health specialist who met with him didn’t feel he needed to be hospitalized.
Two of Long’s former high school track coaches described his behavior during his teenage years as aggressive and disturbing.
They told The Associated Press that they repeatedly complained about Long to school administrators, insisted that he needed help, and even kicked him off the team after he assaulted one of them. They say another coach reinstated Long after arguing the black mark could jeopardize his goal of joining the military.
