Mainak Sarkar killed his wife before murder-suicide mission to UCLA

Former UCLA graduate  Mainak Sarkar, who went on a murder-suicide mission to UCLA and shot professor William Klug, also killed a woman in Minnesota. Officials confirmed that the woman found dead in Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, was Ashley Hasti. According to CNN, Hasti and Sarkar got married  14 June, 2011, but it is not clear whether they were still married at the time of their deaths. The Daily Beast reported the local cops said that Hasti could have been dead for a couple of days, while Daily Mail reported that Hasti, who was a medical student, was found with a gunshot to the head. The report added that Hasti had enrolled in the University of Minnesota Medical School in 2012. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Asian languages and literature. [caption id=“attachment_2814626” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Undated photo of Ashley Hasti and Mainak Sarkar. AP[/caption] Hasti’s name was on a “kill list” that Mainak Sarkar had written. The list also included the name of another professor whom the authorities believe the gunman had intended to kill, but could not find on the UCLA campus, police chief Charlie Beck said. The cops found the list in Sarkar’s Minnesota home. The authorities, however, did not publicly identify the unharmed professor or the woman. Sarkar drove to Los Angeles from Minnesota with two guns and killed Klug before taking his own life. Beck said it appeared mental issues were involved and that Sarkar’s dispute with Klug was tied to Sarkar thinking the professor released intellectual property that harmed Sarkar. Hasti lived with her father in Brooklyn Park. Gordy Aune Jr, the neighborhood watch commander, said that the father daughter kept to themselves. Records in Hennepin County, Minnesota, show Hasti married Sarkar in 2011, though more recently they had different residences. Hasti’s grandmother, Jean Johnson, said the two only remained together for about a year, but didn’t get a divorce, because Hasti couldn’t afford one. “They just didn’t get along,” Johnson told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “The only enemy she had was him, I guess. I never thought he would do something like that.” She said she hadn’t mentioned any recent animosity with Sarkar. Sarkar met Hasti in California around 2009-10. Johnson told Minneapolis Star-Tribune that “Sarkar seemed like a quiet, smart man, but he was “real hyper. “He had trouble sleeping. He just needed to see a doctor.” Sarkar had disparaged Klug online and the professor knew of his contempt, but police have not uncovered any death threats, Beck said. The writings contained “some harsh language, but certainly nothing that would be considered homicidal,” he said. A blog post written in March by someone identifying himself as Sarkar asserted that Klug “cleverly stole all my code and gave it (to) another student” and “made me really sick.” Beck said Sarkar was mentally unstable, saying the investigation had shown his claims of stolen code are “a making of his own imagination.” According to AP, Sarkar and Klug were once close. In his 2013 dissertation about using engineering to understand the human heart, the student thanked the professor “for all his help and support. Thank you for being my mentor.” Authorities believe Sarkar drove to Los Angeles in the past few days with two handguns he legally bought in Minnesota. Sarkar’s LinkedIn page shows he obtained a master’s degree at Stanford University after graduating in 2000 from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur with a degree in aerospace engineering. He most recently was listed as an engineering analyst at a Findlay, Ohio, company called Endurica. Company president Will Mars said Sarkar left in August 2014. It’s unclear what he had been doing since. Colleagues, family and friends described Klug as a kind, devoted father and teacher. He is survived by his wife and two children, a 9-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl. “Bill was so much more than my soul mate. I will miss him every day for the rest of my life,” Klug’s wife, Mary Elise Klug, said in a statement. “Knowing that so many others share our family’s sorrow has provided a measure of comfort.” With inputs from AP