California student kills 6 in rampage

Officials have revealed the son of a Hollywood film director stabbed to death three people at his home in southern California before going on a drive-by shooting, killing three more, Radio New Zealand reports.

The gunman, 22-year-old college student Elliot Rodger, drove through the town of Isla Vista in a black BMW on Friday night, shooting at people in the beachside community where many college students live.

He was found dead inside a crashed vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.

Another seven people are in hospital being treated for bullet wounds, two in a serious condition.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the suspected gunman was armed with three legally purchased handguns registered to him and 41 loaded magazines.

He had posted a YouTube video saying he was looking forward to his "retribution day" and vowing to take revenge on people living a better life than him.

Elliot Rodger's mother contacted the police after a YouTube video was posted a few weeks ago, the family's lawyer said.

Brown said deputies had interviewed Rodger but found him to be polite and courteous and took no further action.

Robert Johnson, a 21-year-old University of California Santa Barbara student, said the car drove past him at a busy Isla Vista intersection and that he heard "popping noises" that he originally mistook for firecrackers or the car backfiring.

"Then the sound came again, and by that point it had pulled up in front of a convenience store deli, and someone in the car was firing into a crowd of about eight, 10 people that were gathered in front of the store," he said.

Hannah Merritt, a Massey University student who is on exchange at the University of California Santa Barbara told Morning Report of her shock at the killings.