Despondent over the end of a relationship, a gunman entered the pool area of his San Diego apartment complex Sunday and began shooting indiscriminately at people gathered for a birthday party, authorities said.
At some point during the shooting 49-year-old Peter Selis took a seat in a lounge chair, pulled out his cell phone and called his ex-girlfriend to tell her he shot two people, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said in a news conference Tuesday.
He kept her on the phone as he continued shooting, killing one woman and injuring six more before police shot and killed him, Zimmerman said.
Though Selis was white and the victims were black and Hispanic, Zimmerman said there was “zero information” to suggest the rampage was racially motivated. Another person was injured in the incident, breaking his arm while fleeing the gunfire.
“The victims were targeted for no reason other than their mere presence,” Zimmerman said.
“What started as a celebration of a friend’s birthday turned into a tragedy of epic proportions for all those in attendance.”
What we know about the shooter
The Sunday night shooting at La Jolla Crossroads rattled residents of this upscale enclave located near the University of California San Diego campus. Residents described the complex as typically quiet, a place that college students, physicians and military families, among others, call home.
Selis broke up with his girlfriend days prior to the shooting, Zimmerman said. Family members described him as depressed, but said nothing in his behavior suggested this kind of violence.
“It is very clear that he was despondent over the breakup,” the police chief said. “It is apparent that he wanted his girlfriend to listen in as he carried out his rampage.”
Detectives are still looking into Selis’ background, she said. He has no criminal history and one handgun registered in his name.
Facing significant debts, he filed for bankruptcy in 2015. He listed his occupation as car mechanic, according to a petition filed in US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of California.
“This was a truly horrific and disturbing act. We pray for the victims and thank our first responders. Our city rejects this senseless violence,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at a news conference.
‘He didn’t say a single word’
The six survivors were sent to area hospitals. One person was shot in the chest and a second has a broken wrist, a broken hand and a concussion from climbing a fence during the shooting. Doctors did not disclose the nature of injuries for the remaining four patients, but all are expected to recover.
The first 911 call came in at 6:08 p.m. reporting two people had been shot, Zimmerman said. The second caller described hearing five to six gunshots and seeing someone outside with a gun.
As police responded to the calls, officers in a helicopter above the complex directed ground units to the suspect, she said.
Three officers confronted the shooter, Zimmerman said. He pointed his weapon at them, prompting an exchange of gunfire that killed Selis at the scene.
One witness said the gunman showed no apparent emotion as the carnage unfolded.
“He was very docile. In his facial expression, no smiling, laughing, talking,” Demetrius Griffin, a Seattle-area man who attended the party, told CNN. “He let off eight rounds, reloaded, let off another eight, reloaded again.”
Nobody in the party knew the shooter, who was sitting in close proximity to an exit, Griffin said. As people began scrambling and screaming the shooter “didn’t say a single word,” he said.
Shots ring out in placid neighborhood
UCSD student Enzo Zhuang’s apartment overlooks the pool. He was playing video games when he heard arguing and minutes later, noises that sounded like fireworks.
“I thought to myself, who would be lighting fireworks?” Zhuang said,”it was always peaceful here before this happened.”
Gabrielle Sulli, who lives at the apartment complex, told KGTV she heard people screaming.
“We literally saw people jumping out from the fences and running away like crazy.”
In a span of about 30 minutes, apartment residents heard gunfire, sirens and the screams of those near the main pool, said resident Susan Berry, who was at the property but did not witness the shooting.
“People are shocked because it’s an affluent neighborhood,” Berry said.
When asked how he would characterize what happened, Griffin said he would not call it a terrorist act.
“But it’s terror,” he said.
“What’s important now is making sure that everybody is OK, Griffin said, “that young lady who unfortunately passed away, that her family is comforted.”
On Monday morning, the grief and terror persisted when Griffin woke up. He started crying.
“I thought I was still in the pool area,” he said. “I rolled out of my bed and hit the ground.”