UCSB student accused of shooting gun through wall in Isla Vista
Flowers placed at the I.V. Deli in Isla Vista on May 25, 2014, form a part of a makeshift memorial to victims of a shooting rampage.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)A UC Santa Barbara student was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of accidentally discharging his firearm, causing a round to enter a nearby apartment and narrowly miss a resident, sheriff’s officials said.
The student, 21-year-old Kevin Tym, admitted to deputies that he was playing with his legally owned Glock when it discharged around 2:30 p.m., shooting through his neighbor’s wall in the 6500 block of Pardall Road, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The bullet appeared to have deflected off a TV stand and become lodged in a wall, just missing his neighbor, sheriff’s officials said.
The incident occurred just hours before a memorial was planned at UC Santa Barbara for six students killed in Friday’s deadly rampage through Isla Vista, when 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed three students, shot three others and injured 13 before apparently killing himself.
Tym, an Isla Vista resident, possessed seven firearms, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity assault rifle magazines, sheriff’s officials said. He legally owned all of his firearms, they said.
He was arrested on suspicion of negligent discharge and possessing high-capacity magazines.
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Veronica Rocha worked on the Metro desk and at L.A. Now covering breaking news in California. She joined the Los Angeles Times in 2014 and left in 2017.