29 May 2014

Memorial held for shooting victims

4:15 am on 29 May 2014

Thousands of people have attended a memorial service in the United States to remember six people killed in a mass shooting.

Elliot Rodger, 22, stabbed three people before going on a rampage at the University of California in Santa Barbara on 23 May, also wounding 13, before taking his own life.

Richard Martinez called for stricter gun controls.

Richard Martinez called for stricter gun controls. Photo: AFP / Getty Images North America

Thousands of people joined the service at the university on Tuesday. Classes had been suspended for what was called a day of mourning and reflection.

Small memorials of flowers, candles and photographs have been left across the student town of Isla Vista, where the stabbings and shootings took place, the BBC reports.

Richard Martinez, the father of Christopher Michaels-Martinez, 20, the last of the six students to be killed, spoke at the ceremony on behalf of his and two other families.

Mr Martinez called for stricter gun control in the US and urged the students to turn their grief into action to stop mass killings which have become part of life in America.

"How many more people are going to have to die in this situation before the problem gets solved? It's almost become a normal thing for us to accept this. It's not normal - any of us who grew up in the fifties, sixties, forties know that life doesn't have to be like this."

Rodger, a student at nearby Santa Barbara City College, legally purchased ammunition and three handguns. On Friday evening in his apartment he stabbed to death his two room-mates George Chen, 19, and Cheng Hong, 20, and a third man Weihan Wang, 20. He then got into his BMW and drove through Isla Vista, shooting at random.

Rodger had warned of his intentions in an emailed manifesto and a video posted online the day before, in which he ranted hatefully about women, particularly those who had spurned his romantic advances.

His parents reportedly received a copy of the manifesto, called police and raced to the beachside university town, but it was too late.

Thousands of people attended the service  at Isla Vista on Tuesday.

Thousands of people attended the service at Isla Vista on Tuesday. Photo: AFP / Getty Images North America