Los Angeles, June 2 

A disgruntled Mainak Sarkar, Indian doctoral student who had been working on his thesis for 10 years, has been identified as the killer of his professor at the University of California-Los Angeles on Thursday.

Mainak Sarkar, 38, who was born in India before coming to the US for higher study, shot dead engineering professor William Klug, 39, in his office on the university campus before turning the gun on himself, the Daily Mail quoted the Los Angeles Police Department as saying.

Sarkar appeared to have had a long-running feud with Klug.

Sarkar took his own life after gunning down William Klug, 39, in a small office in UCLA Engineering Building 4, sources confirmed.

Sarkar, a resident of Minnesota, appeared also to have killed a woman, later idetinfied as Asley Hasti, in a small town in that state, officials said. both married in 2011. Whether they are still married is not sure.

The woman'’s name was found on a “kill list” in Sarkar’s residence, Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck said during an interview. A second UCLA professor’s name was on that list as well, along with Klug’s. 

“There is no good reason for this” Beck said.

Klug was an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and had been the target of Sarkar’s anger on social media for months. On March 10, Sarkar called the professor a “very sick person” who should not be trusted.

"I am absolutely devastated," Alan Garfinkel, professor of integrative biology and physiology who worked with Klug to develop a computer-generated virtual heart, was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

"You cannot ask for a nicer, gentler, sweeter and more supportive guy than William Klug," Garfinkel added.

Klug earned his under-graduate degree in engineering physics from Westmont College in 1997, his Master’s in civil engineering at UCLA in 1999 and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from California Institute of Technology in 2003.

In a blog post uploaded on March 10 under his name, Sarkar wrote that the professor "stole all my code and gave it another student". Sarkar branded him a "sick man".

The post, which was uploaded to a blog called Long Dark Tunnel but has since been deleted, says: "William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor. He is a very sick person. I urge every new student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy."

"My name is Mainak Sarkar. I was this guy's PhD student. We had personal differences. He cleverly stole all my code and gave it to another student. He made me really sick."

"Your enemy is your enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm. Be careful about whom you trust. Stay away from this sick guy," the blog reads.

However, a source told the LA Times that Sarkar's claims were "psychotic", adding that his characterisation of Klug as a thief was "absolutely untrue".

On the UCLA website, Sarkar was listed as part of the Klug Research Group, a team of six post-doctoral and PhD students researching biomechanics.

The website shows Sarkar has been studying for his PhD since 2006 with no graduating date, two years longer than any of the other researchers. 

Before enrolling at UCLA, Sarkar earned a Master’s degree at Stanford University following an under-graduate degree in aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, according to his LinkedIn page.

In the US, he also had a stint as a research assistant at the University of Texas and worked as a software developer.

Around 200 armed police, SWAT officers, FBI agents and firefighters were called to the campus as at least three shots rang out, fired inside the Engineering IV building around 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The bodies of both men alongside a 9mm semi-automatic pistol were later found.

Officers say a piece of evidence, believed to be a suicide note, was found at the scene -- but they refused to give any more details. 

LA Times

The gunman who killed a UCLA professor before committing suicide on campus Wednesday left behind a “kill list” and is suspected in the shooting death of a woman in Minnesota, authorities said.

Mainak Sarkar, 38, a former doctoral student and Minnesota resident, left a list at his home in that state that included the names of the woman, UCLA professor William Klug and a second professor who is safe, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday. Sarkar shot Klug multiple times in a small office in UCLA Engineering Building 4 before taking his own life, authorities said.

Sarkar had accused Klug of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else, according to police.

Authorities declined to name the woman in Minnesota or a possible motive.

On Thursday, police in Brooklyn Park, Minn., strung crime scene tape around a gray split-level home at 2457 Pearson Parkway. Public records listed the resident there as Ashley Hasti.

When detectives arrived at Klug’s office on Wednesday morning and found both bodies, they also found a note from Sarkar listing his home address in Minnesota and asking someone to “check on my cat.”

“Immediately we were highly suspicious,” Beck told The Times. “That made me uneasy about what we would find when we got to Minnesota.”

The LAPD worked with the FBI and Minnesota authorities and served a search warrant at Sarkar’s home, Beck said. Inside, they found extra ammunition and a box for one of two pistols found at UCLA, as well as the three-name â€œkill list,” the chief said.

Authorities went to the woman’s home in Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb, and found her body just after midnight Thursday,  Brooklyn Park Police Deputy Chief Mark Bruley said at a news conference.

”We have multiple detectives working on this case,” Bruley said. “We’re working with LAPD to coordinate our efforts.” 

Beck said it appeared the woman had been dead of a gunshot wound for “maybe a couple of days.”

Authorities declined to name the woman or her relationship to Sarkar but said Sarkar was suspected in her death.

“We would physically arrest him were he still alive,” the chief said.

Sarkar drove from Minnesota to Los Angeles, according to Beck, but it was unclear how long he was in L.A. before Wednesday’s shooting. Detectives don’t think it was “more than a couple of days,” the chief said.

On Wednesday, a “heavily armed” Sarkar carried a backpack, two semiautomatic pistols and extra magazines to Klug’s fourth-floor office, where he fatally shot the professor before turning the gun on himself, Beck said. The gunman, he said, “was certainly prepared to engage multiple victims.” 

A note from Sarkar included language about the second professor, Beck said. 

”We believe … that he went to kill two faculty from UCLA,” Beck said. “He was only able to locate one.”

The second professor, whom Beck did not name, was not on campus at the time of the shooting. Police have been in contact with that person, who “is fine,” the chief said. That professor “knew Sarkar had issues with him,” Beck said.