Gunman at college planned his rampage

Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks, during a news conference, shows a surveillance photo of a gunman entering the Santa Monica College library. Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks, during a news conference, shows a surveillance photo of a gunman entering the Santa Monica College library. Photo: David McNew, Getty Images Photo: David McNew, Getty Images Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Gunman at college planned his rampage 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

Santa Monica -- The shooting rampage that killed five people, including the gunman, in Santa Monica on Friday was a premeditated act by an emotionally troubled man who armed himself with high-powered weapons and may have had up to 1,300 rounds of ammunition, law enforcement sources said Saturday.

Authorities have not named the gunman who was killed by police. But law enforcement sources in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles identified him as John Zawahri, 23. Several of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Zawahri had struggled with his parents' bitter divorce. He also had a history of mental issues, the sources said, but they could not be more specific.

Santa Monica police said Saturday that the department had dealt with the gunman in connection with an incident in 2006 but would not provide details because he was a juvenile at the time. Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks also said officers had previously gone to the home where the rampage began.

Just before noon Friday, the home was set on fire, and authorities found the gunman's father, Samir Zawahri, 55, and brother, Chris, 25, dead, sources said.

Police said the rampage lasted about 10 minutes, with the gunman cutting a sharp, bloody path through normally quiet streets. It ended when Zawahri, who'd been firing a semiautomatic rifle, was shot on the campus.

"Any time someone puts on a vest of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines ... has a handgun and has a semiautomatic rifle, carjacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be killed at the hands of police," Seabrooks said, "that's premeditated."

A close friend of the family, who asked not to be identified, said that John struggled with mental health problems.

Details on the gunman and his victims weren't available Saturday, partly because the shooter's mother, identified by the sources as Randa Abdou, was said to be out of the country and had not been reached by police.

John Zawahri's parents had been divorced for years, neighbors said. Court records show two divorce filings. One was filed in 1993, by Samir Zawahri. Another, noting domestic violence, was filed by Abdou in 1998.

The family moved into a Santa Monica home on Yorkshire Avenue about two decades ago, neighbors said. After the couple split up, Abdou eventually settled into an apartment about 2 miles away with son Chris. John had remained with his father.

Police are still searching for what may have caused the rampage. Seabrooks said the gunman would have turned 24 Saturday.