UCLA shooter Mainak was brilliant, reserved in school

Indian-American researcher Mainak Sarkar, who allegedly killed his wife and a professor at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) before turning the gun on himself, was a very brilliant student, but reserved, said his school teacher.

Sarkar passed his ICSE exam from St. Michael's School in Durgapur town of West Bengal's Burdwan district, before clearing his plus-two from another shcool.

He later got an under-graduate degree in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur and then went to the US where he earned a Master's degree at Stanford University.

Lily Chowdhury, biology teacher at St. Michael's, described the news of the shootout as "very shocking".

"He was a very brilliant student, meritorious student, I should say. He was one of the toppers of the class. He was a pride of our school," said Chowdhury.

She remembers Sarkar as "very well behaved".

"I knew him till his ICSE. He was reserved, not the very outgoing type. I should not say that he was an introvert. But yes, he was not the type who would go around and make friends very quickly," she said.

"We never had any problems with him. So, the news that I got is very shocking," said Chowdhury.

One of his friends in Durgapur recalled that Sarkar was good in sports.

"He was a good student, a good boy. He was good in sports. But he did not venture out of home often. He was absorbed in his studies," said the friend.

Sarkar, 38, fatally shot engineering professor William Klug, 39, in his office at the UCLA on Wednesday. Klug had refused to give him a passing grade.

Before killing Klug, he killed his wife Ashley Hasti, who was found dead in Brooklyn Park, in Minnesota.

--IANS

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