Guns, ammo seized at UC Santa Barbara student’s Isla Vista apartment
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)Sheriff’s deputies arrested a UC Santa Barbara student this week on charges of accidentally discharging his gun, narrowly missing striking a neighbor with a bullet, sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.
Kevin Tym, 21, admitted to deputies that he was playing with his legally owned Glock when it discharged about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, 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 was apparently deflected off a TV stand and lodged in a wall, just missing his neighbor, sheriff’s officials said.
The incident occurred hours before a memorial was planned at UC Santa Barbara for six students who were 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.
UC Santa Barbara officials had declared Tuesday a day of mourning and reflection and classes had been canceled.
Tym, an Isla Vista resident, had 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.