The question of whether race motivated Peter Selis hung over San Diego in the aftermath of Sunday’s mass shooting as police officials, investigators and members of the community at large tried to piece together what happened — and why.

San Diego police on Monday said Selis was despondent over a recent breakup with his girlfriend when he shot seven people, killing one, in the pool area of a University City apartment complex.

But the circumstances of the shooting — Selis was a white man and most of his victims were black or Latino — have made race a central topic of discussion.

“The reason why people are speculating a hate crime in the community is because this is a 49-year-old white male, who walks into a pool area, a gathering with mostly black people, in a mostly white community in San Diego,” said the Rev. Shane Harris of the San Diego chapter of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization.


“He lives there, and he walks in there, and he shoots six African Americans and one Latino. You leave no choice for people to look at what the motive is. And we are not letting this one off.”

On Monday evening, police revised their previous statements and said that one of the victims was a white woman, not black. That was after Harris and others made their comments for this article. Nevertheless, Selis trained his fire on poolside birthday gathering of mostly people of color.

Investigators have not seen anything that indicates indicates Selis’ rampage from a pool lounge chair at the upscale La Jolla Crossroads complex was motivated by racial animosity, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said.

“We have zero information that this was racially motivated,” she said at a Monday news conference.


Zimmerman said Selis called his former girlfriend while he was gunning people down and kept her on the phone as the shooting continued.

His reaction to the breakup, not race, appears to be the central factor, Zimmerman said. It was a “spontaneous act of violence” and the victims were shot because they were nearby, not because of their skin color, she said.

An African-American woman at the party disputed that notion and noted that a white friend was let go by Selis.

“I feel there was hate within this crime, and I don’t think that is a deniable thing here,” said Lt. j.g. Lauren Chapman, who is stationed at 32nd Street Naval Base.


Selis shot at arriving officers who returned fire and killed him, Zimmerman said.

Bishop Cornelius Bowser of Charity Apostolic Church called for an investigation to determine what motivated the gunman.

“See wherever the evidence leads, if it leads to a suicide mission, to someone who had issues with people of color,” Bowser said. “The investigation needs to continue until they can be clear what the motives were for doing that.”

Bowser said police have a legitimate interest in keeping the public informed about the status of the case and help keep people calm after an emotional tragedy. He added that they might inadvertently heighten tensions if they prematurely dismiss the possibly that race was a factor.


“Sometimes, I think that the thing that riles people up the most is when they don’t have all the information, or they feel like something is being held out,” he said.

Drew Phillips witnessed the shooter reloading at an apartment complex in University City where the shooter eventually shot 7 victims in the swimming pool area. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Harris of the National Action Network also called for an investigation to determine Selis’ motives.

“We want to address this, and make it very clear that we want to see a thorough investigation on whether hate was involved in this crime or not,” he said.


He added that he wants police to be transparent about the methodology of their investigation, and to set a deadline for when their inquiry will be complete.

Others had concluded that Selis was motivated by racial hatred.

“Officials still won’t admit this was a hate crime,” media personality and filmmaker Tariq Nasheed said on Twitter.

Later, he added: “I would like @SanDiegoPD to explain how a white killer can go to a predominantly white area of San Diego, shoot 7 Blks, and it’s NOT racial?”


Michael Benjamin, a student at the University of California San Diego and a resident at La Jolla Crossroads for a little over a year, said he often felt that some people in the complex were quietly hostile toward him because he’s black.

Their treatment, combined with the circumstances of the shooting, make it clear that Selis, one of his neighbors, was motivated by a hatred against black people, he said.

“I don’t think it’s rocket science,” said Benjamin, the president of UC San Diego’s National Society of Black Engineers.

Some of the other residents have looked down at him while riding with him in the elevator, or physically move away when he is near. There have also been bad looks, and ongoing animosity, he said.


“Just living there, and going to school, and walking around the apartment complex, I feel racial tensions as I walk around,” he said.

Benjamin said he had never met Selis, or if he did, he does not remember him.

Besides the recent breakup, Selis also faced significant debt. A mechanic at a car dealership, court records show he filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and owed tens of thousands of dollars to medical groups, credit card companies and tax collectors.

Zimmerman did not mention Selis’ financial struggles at the news conference on Monday.


Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com


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