Before starting his planned attack on the sorority house, Rodger uploaded to YouTube a video announcing his intention to "punish" women—as well as the men to whom they were attracted—for their lack of interest in him.

During his attack, Rodger also e-mailed a 137-page manifesto—in which he described his major life events, personal struggles, and frustrations at having remained a lifelong virgin—to several of his family members, acquaintances, and therapists.

As an elementary student, he was quiet and withdrawn; he struggled with speech, would whisper answers if addressed, preferred to write information rather than talk, and avoided peer interaction during recess.

[50][51][52] As he grew, Rodger became self-conscious about his short height and slender frame; he briefly played basketball in the belief it would make him grow taller.

[61][72][73] When he was aged 11, a fellow AOL chatroom user shared sexually explicit images with Rodger, leading to overwhelming feelings of shock and emotion.

[47][86][87] Rodger reported being severely bullied by seniors at Crespi, which included having his head taped to his desk when he fell asleep, being pushed into lockers, and suffering homophobic abuse due to his refusal to associate with girls.

[30][47] One afternoon, while leaving the premises, Rodger suffered an anxiety attack, causing school staff to contact his mother, and he was withdrawn from Taft after only a week of attendance.

[21][102] He urged his mother to marry a wealthy man[11][61][103] but she refused to remarry, and Rodger took up screenwriting and inventing, which he believed would be shortcuts to success, but he quickly gave up when he felt challenged.

[6][107][108] He held his parents responsible for his lack of wealth, blaming his mother for not marrying a wealthier man for his benefit and his father for using his money to produce Oh My God.

[47][61][75] Despite his mother's encouragement to seek employment, Rodger spent his time frequently wandering around her house or reading at a bookstore, hoping to find friends.

[109][92] When his half-brother began to show signs of sociability despite his own social disadvantages at that age, Rodger grew envious but enjoyed his company nonetheless.

The roommate asked to be assigned a new apartment, stating Rodger had "huge psychological issues" and was a "ticking time bomb waiting to explode", mentioning that he feared for his safety.

[40][61][142] He would roam around Isla Vista every day, often sitting outside a Domino's Pizza outlet hoping a woman would find him attractive and initiate a conversation with him.

[161][162][163] Thinking this meant he would remain a virgin, Rodger began to prepare for his "Day of Retribution", choosing the city of Isla Vista as his target.

[174][175][176] On July 20, 2013, Rodger was intent on losing his virginity days before his 22nd birthday; he drank vodka to ease his nerves before attending a house party with the hope of engaging with women.

He was still inebriated and attempted to return to the party but inadvertently walked into another house, where the occupants assaulted him, causing him bruises, scrapes, and a swollen left eye.

Rodger said he was pushed off the ledge after insulting someone's appearance, that he went to a different house and was then assaulted by approximately ten men without provocation after getting called a homophobic slur.

Fueled by resentment over the house party incident and his repeated rejections by women, Rodger concluded his only recourse was to enact his "Day of Retribution".

[191][192][193] Rodger's father sought assistance from his friend Dale Launer, a filmmaker who is known for his work on relationship-themed movies, to improve his son's interactions with women.

Because of this, in late 2013, a counseling director told Rodger's mother he appeared to be making a sincere effort to improve his life and reduce his social isolation.

[11] In September 2013, Rodger was assigned a random apartment, where he gained two new roommates: 20-year-old Weihan "David" Wang and 20-year-old Cheng Yuan "James" Hong.

[231][232] By January 2014, Rodger contemplated launching his planned attack during Valentine's Day or Deltopia, a spring break event in Isla Vista in early April.

[166][236] Throughout February and March of that year, Rodger visited gun ranges and made multiple ammunition purchases using money he had saved from gifts from his grandparents and the $500 monthly allowance from his father.

[39][92] Rodger had a social media presence, sharing selfies on his Facebook profile, on which he showed himself enjoying luxurious plane rides and attending movie premieres.

[x] On the week leading up to April 26, Rodger uploaded twenty-two videos on YouTube, describing his loneliness and frustration due to his unsuccessful attempts at attracting a girlfriend.

"[y] In additional YouTube videos, Rodger recorded himself driving around California in his BMW while dancing to music from musicians including Whitney Houston, George Michael, and Phil Collins.

[ab] Within these forums, Rodger and other men identified themselves as "incels", a shorthand term for involuntary celibate, and discussed their struggles to find a romantic or sexual partner, criticized each other, and expressed disdain towards women and pick-up artists.

[ac] When a user suggested having sex via lucid dreaming could serve as a substitute for a lack of intimacy in real life, Rodger argued incels needed to initiate a "revolution", saying it was essential to "destroy" the issues they faced by recognizing their "true strength and numbers".

[aj] In the second phase, which he dubbed the "War on Women",[ak] he aimed to target "the very girls who represent everything I hate in the female gender", specifically focusing on the Alpha Phi sorority house with the intent to kill as many occupants as possible before setting fire to the building.

[368][369][370] On May 21, after being called a "low-class incel" on PUAHate, Rodger linked a video of himself, his father, and stepmother at the Hunger Games premiere, saying: "You're all jealous of my 10/10 pretty-boy face.