Kelli Dan Cooper Isla Vista memorial walk 2019
Kelli and Dan Cooper stop at the vigil arranged for their daughter, Katie, in the Love and Remembrance Garden in Isla Vista during the memorial walk on the five-year anniversary of the May 23, 2014 mass shooting.  (John Rose / Noozhawk file photo)
  • Kelli and Dan Cooper stop at the vigil arranged for their daughter, Katie, in the Love and Remembrance Garden in Isla Vista during Thursday’s memorial walk on the five-year anniversary of the May 23, 2014 mass shooting.
  • Thursday’s vigil and memorial walk started at Storke Plaza at UCSB.
  • UCSB Police Officer Ariel Bournes led the group through the streets Thursday carrying a rose the whole way. Bournes was in training on his first ride-along the night of the Isla Vista mass shooting.
  • Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher Michaels-Martinez was one of the six victims of the May 23, 2014 shooting in Isla Vista, places a rose at a vigil in the Love and Remembrance Garden in Isla Vista Thursday.
  • Replicas of the chalk boards from the days following the shooting in Isla Vista in 2014 were displayed at Storke Plaza on May 23, 2019, at UCSB.
  • Thursday’s memorial walk started at Storke Plaza at UCSB and ended at Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista.
  • Thursday’s memorial walk started at Storke Plaza at UCSB and ended at Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista.
  • Dan Cooper, whose daughter Katie Cooper was one of the six victims of the Isla Vista shooting, picks up a rose at Storke Plaza in UCSB to carry on Thursday’s memorial walk with his wife, Kelli.
  • UCSB Police Officer Ariel Bournes led the group through the streets Thursday carrying a rose the whole way. Bournes was in training on his first ride-along the night of the Isla Vista mass shooting.
  • Thursday’s memorial walk started at Storke Plaza at UCSB and ended at Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista. UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang addresses the crowd at the park.
  • Thursday’s memorial walk started at Storke Plaza at UCSB and ended at Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista.
  • Thursday’s memorial walk started at Storke Plaza at UCSB and ended at Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista.

Isla Vista community members and UC Santa Barbara students gathered Thursday evening for a memorial walk and vigil on the 5-year anniversary of the mass shooting and rampage that killed six UCSB students and injured 14 more people.

Relatives of the victims joined the walk, which started at Storke Plaza on campus and ended at Anisq'Oyo' Park in Isla Vista.

People placed roses at the Love & Remembrance Garden for Katherine Breann “Katie” Cooper, 22, of Chino Hills, and Veronika Elizabeth Weiss, 19, of Westlake Village.

They also placed roses for Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20, of Los Osos, Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, 20, and George Chen, 19, both of San Jose, and Weihan “David” Wang, 20, of Fremont. 

Speakers at the park included Richard Martinez, father of Christopher Michael-Martinez; Dan and Kelli Cooper, the parents of Katie Cooper; UCSB Police Officer Ariel Bournes, who was in training on a ride-along the night of the shootings; and UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. 

Several pieces of gun-related legislation have been passed in the five years following the massacre, including Assembly Bill 1014, which allows law enforcement personnel to seize a person’s weapons for up to 21 days if they feel that the person poses a threat to him or herself or the public. 

Another law, partially prompted by the fact that sheriff's deputies had conducted a welfare check on the shooter at his home a month before the massacre, is Senate Bill 505, which requires law enforcement agencies to develop policies encouraging officers to search the Department of Justice’s Automated Firearms System, California’s database of gun purchases, prior to conducting a “welfare check” on a person who is potentially a danger to themselves or others.

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, said Thursday that Senate Bill 55, her bill restricting gun ownership to Californians with repeated convictions of certain alcohol-related crimes like DUI,  passed off the Senate floor and is going to the Assembly. 

A UC Davis study found that alcohol-related convictions were associated with an increased risk of incident arrest for a violent or firearm-related crime, Jackson's office said in a news release updating the bill's progress. 

In the case of the Isla Vista massacre, Elliot Rodger, 22, shot three people to death and injured 14 others, then killed himself on May 23, 2014.

Before driving through town shooting at pedestrians and bicyclists, Rodger fatally stabbed Chen, Hong and Wang — his roommates and one of their friends — in his apartment.

As previously reported by Noozhawk following the release of the investigative report on the rampage, Rodger took to the streets of Isla Vista shortly before 9:30 p.m., in his black coupe, shooting passers-by with semi-automatic weapons and hitting them with his car.

He shot and killed Cooper and Weiss, both members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, who were standing outside the Alpha Phi sorority house on the 800 block of Embarcadero Del Norte. 

Rodger fatally shot Michaels-Martinez at the Isla Vista Deli Mart on the 6500 block of Pardall Road.

Seven more people were wounded by gunfire and seven were injured by Rodger, who hit them with his car during his eight-minute rampage.

Rodger shot himself while he was still driving, and his car crashed on the 6500 block of Del Playa Drive.

Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.