Vigils for six slain U.C. Santa Barbara students were held tonight at UCLA and U.C. San Diego, the first in a series of remembrances scheduled at all 10 University of California campuses.
In Thousand Oaks, friends and former classmates of Westlake High School alumna Veronika Elizabeth Weiss gathered to remember her at a private memorial.
“As students at the University of California, we stand in support of those on our sister campus,” a UCLA Facebook event page stated. “Let us take this opportunity to stand even closer together and recognize the bonds within our community.”
More than 2,000 students attended the UCLA memorial, according to KTLA5. Similar observances are scheduled Tuesday at U.C. Irvine and Wednesday at U.C. Riverside. Others are scheduled throughout the week at the remaining campuses.
The memorial at Westlake High School honored 19-year-old Weiss near the swimming pool where she practiced and competed as part of the school’s water polo team. The gathering was closed to the media at her parent’s request.
“It’s very heartbreaking for your daughter, who is in high school to find out her friend has been shot dead,” parent Caroline Spaeter told KCBS2. “It’s something a mother, any parent, doesn’t want to happen.”
In an earlier interview, Weiss’ father, Bob, remembered his daughter as a kind and caring person.
“She was the person who would reach out to the kids who weren’t the popular kids,” he told KCBS. “She touched a lot of people.”
Weiss and two other UCSB students, Katherine Breann Cooper of Chino Hills, and Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20, of Los Osos, were shot and killed during a murderous rampage through Isla Vista carried out Friday night by Elliot Rodger, 22, of Woodland Hills.
Prior to the shootings, authorities said Rodger stabbed his roommates and one of their friends to death at the apartment they shared in Santa Barbara.
They were identified as Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, and George Chen, 19, both of San Jose; and, 20-year-old Weihan Wang of Fremont. All six were UCSB students, according to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Dept.
In addition, 13 other people were injured including four who were mowed down as Rodger drove his black BMW through Isla Vista, shooting randomly out a window.
