California gunman was ex-Marine who may have suffered from PTSD, sheriff says
LOS ANGELES - A gunman who killed 12 people at a Thousand Oaks bar was a former U.S. Marine who may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the Ventura County sheriff said.
Ian David Long, 28, lived in Newbury Park, not far from the club where he threw smoke bombs and rained bullets on a crowd of more than a hundred people Wednesday night.
Sheriff Geoff Dean said his department had had several interactions with Long, including a call to his home in April for a complaint of disturbing the peace. Deputies at the time said Long was irate and acting irrationally, Dean said. They called in mental health professionals to evaluate him, and they concluded he did not need to be taken into custody.
In the neighborhood where Long lived, residents said they were well aware of his problems.
Richard Berge, 77, said the former Marine had PTSD and was known to kick in the walls of the home. Long lived with his mother, Berge said.
"She's a very sweet woman, but she had a lot of problems with the son," Berge said. "I just
