Athlete shocked to be named in shooter’s manifesto
FILE - In this Oct. 26, 2013, file photo, Utah running back Lucky Radley (44) attempts to get by Southern California safety Josh Shaw (6) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, in Los Angeles. Radley says he's shocked and heartbroken to learn that his childhood friend Elliott Rodger is the 22-year-old suspected in a stabbing and shooting rampage in California last Friday, May 23, 2014, and learning his own name was included in a manifesto where Rodger aired his contempt for women and the men he says they preferred. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas, File)
SALT LAKE CITY >> A manifesto written by gunman Elliot Rodger before he killed six people in California named a University of Utah football player as a childhood friend that Rodger eventually came to hate because of his success with women.
Senior running back Lucky Radley of Inglewood, California, said he was disturbed to discover his name was in the 140-page manifesto in which Rodger aired his contempt for women and the men he says they preferred.
Radley made his comments during interviews with the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune concerning the rampage on Friday in Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“I was just like, wow, this guy lived literally three doors down from me,” Radley told The Salt Lake Tribune. “He was really quiet. He never said anything.”
Authorities believe Rodger committed suicide after killing six people and injuring 13 others in the shooting and stabbings.
Police say the 22-year-old community college student was obsessed with exacting retribution for what he saw as a lifetime of social and sexual isolation.
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In addition to a series of YouTube videos, Rodger left behind the manifesto in which he ranted against women and couples and lamented his lack of a sex life.
Radley said he was shocked to learn he was named in the manifesto, where Rodger described the football player as “very nice at the time” they played together in elementary school.
However, Rodger said he later hated Radley because he was “immediately popular with the pretty girls of his grade” in middle school.
“Honestly, I was just disturbed by the whole thing,” Radley told the Deseret News. “I’m kind of at a loss for words. I never thought anyone would think of me like that.”
Radley said he remembered playing video games with Rodger, who was unusually quiet. But because their friendship was brief and they lost contact as they got older, Radley was surprised that Rodger even remembered him.
“Literally, I’ve done nothing wrong to him whatsoever,” Radley says. “I really hung out with him in fourth grade. After that, he was kind of doing his thing. I was into sports and he was kind of into other things.”
Radley told the Tribune that he didn’t read the manifesto himself but his girlfriend had and shared details.
“I would never imagine this would happen,” he said. “For me to know someone who it happened to, it’s disturbing.”
