What we know about Mainak Sarkar, UCLA shooter

startribune.com ^ | 06/02/216

[BenLurkin]

Police discovered what Sarkar titled his "kill list" at his St. Paul apartment on Agate Street, which listed the names of two targeted professors, one of whom was not on the UCLA campus at the time of the shootings. A Brooklyn Park woman was also listed. Brooklyn Park police discovered her body in her home at 12:35 a.m. Thursday. Neighbors identified her as Hasti.

• Sarkar's motive for killing the professor was believed to be over the perceived intellectual property theft.

• Beck said the professors knew Sarkar had issues with them, but didn't believe he was a danger.

• On March 10, in a blog post that has since been deleted, Sarkar called Klug "a sick person" who stole his work. "I was this guy's Ph.D. student," he wrote. "We had personal differences. He cleverly stole all my code and gave it another student. He made me really sick."

• Police say that at some point, Sarkar drove from Minnesota to Los Angeles. Police are still looking for the car, a 2003 gray Nissan Sentra with Minnesota plate 720KTW

[Yaelle]

So, which was he, I wonder?

[Paine in the Neck]

So, which was he, I wonder?

Dunno.

[GreenHornet]

ABC News is busy searching the membership list of the local Tea Party chapter to see if anyone named Mainak Sarkar is listed there.

[Hoffer Rand]

Thee Joooo bastid might have used Maniac’s research in a paper he presented at a seminar this spring without giving attribution.

If you have any understanding of the way academia works, it's more likely he passed along a graduate research project to his next graduate/research assistant. Completely hypothetical, but possible scenario: The shooter probably thought it was "his" code, but depending on if he was in grad school under some kind of program where he was employed by UCLA as a graduate assistant, research assistant, teaching assistant, etc. then he may have thought he owned the work he was doing, but he didn't. Just about every university has intellectual property contracts they have employees sign that state whatever the terms are governing whether intellectual property you develop as an employee of the university belongs to the university or to you. Hint: it usually ain't you.

[x]

"Mainak" is a Sanskrit name meaning "son of Mena," a Hindu goddess, so it's a little more likely that he's Hindu, rather than Muslim, but who knows? Wait for the details.

Similarly, "Klug" is certainly a common Jewish last name, but as the victim's mother and wife were both named "Mary" he may not have been Jewish. We'll find out soon enough.

[kabar]

I think Maniac was Born in the USA.

What is the basis for your assumption? We do know where he got his undergraduate degree. Sarkar earned an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, according to his LinkedIn page. In the U.S., he also had a stint as a research assistant at the University of Texas and worked as a software developer.

[iowamark]

Dr. Mainak Sarkar graduated from UCLA with a PhD in mechanical engineering in 2013. In 2005, he graduated from Stanford University with a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2000 he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur with a degree in Aerospace Engineering.

[Paladin2]

See #15....

[familyop]

"So, which was he, I wonder?"

According to what appears to be his page here, Hindu ("Religion").

https://www.everipedia.com/mainak-sarkar/

[familyop]

...a page apparently edited by others, though.

[kabar]

He had an H1B yob so, yep, more likely an alien of the terrestial variety.

More likely an alien? We don't issue H1B visas to US citizens. He is definitely without question a foreigner at birth.

[familyop]

I live among many who have names formerly associated with Judaism. They now identify as being only of German descent and not Jewish at all. It might have something to do with the following of matrilineal descent in contemporary Judaism (except for future gathered Cohenim from the perspectives of some).

[x]

That’s interesting information. I wonder, though, if people in academia don’t feel like they have some proprietorship in an other than legal sense — the idea that, yes, I can’t make any money off this, but as I’ve put work into it I ought to be able to publish or make my dissertation or get further grants for it. Even where the law is clear, the etiquette can be pretty complicated.

[Paladin2]

What about Hussein? These things apparently have nuance and facts are slippery things...

[heartwood]

I believe batterycommander is attributing the sentiment to Sarkar, and has omitted the /sarc tag.

Beware, batterycommander, I got banned once when I did the same thing, and got my husband banned when I used his FR name to contact the moderator and explain, and had to create a third identity to go to the top and plead my case.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Too late: already banned or suspended.

[heartwood]

I believe batterycommander is attributing the sentiment to Sarkar, and has omitted the /sarc tag.

Beware, batterycommander, I got banned once when I did the same thing, and got my husband banned when I used his FR name to contact the moderator and explain, and had to create a third identity to go to the top and plead my case.

[Hoffer Rand]

When people don’t understand the rules (and don’t read the contracts they sign), it causes all kinds of issues. I deal with this type of thing with adjunct (part-time) faculty on occasion. The university paid them to develop the content for the course they taught. They want to “own” their course content, but they don’t. They were paid to develop it by the university, so that intellectual property belongs to the university. We hear the same thing. “But I spent all that time developing my course.” Yes, and you were on the clock when you did it. We wouldn’t think somebody working on the assembly line at GM owns the cars they helped build. Same thing with intellectual property. You were paid to “create/develop ideas” so the company owns them, unless you have a contract that states otherwise.

[zeestephen]

Re: “We need a chronology of his immigration history.”

Once the guy got his STEM Masters degree from Stanford, he can pretty much work indefinitely in the USA.

Basically, all he needs to do is to find a USA company that agrees to sponsor him for a Green Card.

That’s no problem - if you are willing to work 70 hours a week at half pay.

Once your Green Card application is processed, and you continue to work for your slave master, uh, sponsor, you can legally work in the USA until your Green Card is issued, or, all your Green Card appeals are rejected, which can take 10 years.

Even if your Green Card is rejected, your name is given the lowest possible priority for being forcibly removed from the USA, which essentially means that no one is looking for you unless you commit a felony, if then, even.

[kabar]

If someone has received his undergraduate degree in a country that, by his name, he could likely be a resident of, then the usual assumption is that the person is not an American by birth. There are plenty of exceptions. Hussein? Maybe he was born here. We just need an authentic long form birth certificate. We are still waiting.

I was just curious as to why you assumed he was born in this country. It struck me as being rather odd.