Dennis RomeroA custodian at Santa Monica College reports witnessing a gunman in military-like apparel shooting an elderly woman just outside the campus library today.
Jorge Saldana, 47, says that he was in the library checking fire extinguishers when he saw the Santa Monica College gunman — who police believe shot five four people in three different crime scenes around Santa Monica before heading to the campus — come down a staircase, toting his weapon. “To me, he looked like police,” Saldana reports. He believes the man was wearing a bulletproof vest. “He was very calm, walking very slow.”
Saldana then spied a woman he frequently sees on campus collecting aluminum cans, rummaging in the trash for just that reason. The shooter saw her too, Saldana reports.
The woman, Saldana says, has a habit of smiling whenever she makes eye contact. He describes what happened as the shooter first turned to her: “She smiled to him” — and then “he shot her in cold blood.”
“It was shocking,” he says.
The woman began crawling away; Saldana believes she was shot in the face or chest. Saldana heard shots ringing out from inside the library as he fled, fearing his own life.
Police later confirmed they shot the suspect dead inside the library.
Click here for the latest on today's shootings in Santa Monica and the police investigation.
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