SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — The "horrific" slaying of a practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine, his wife and their 5-year-old daughter in their California home does not appear to be random, authorities said. 
 
 The crime was discovered Wednesday when sheriff's deputies responded to a call for a welfare check on the residence in a modern neighborhood on winding streets just outside Santa Barbara. 
 
 After obtaining a search warrant, detectives entered the home early Thursday and coroner's investigators collected the remains, which were identified as those of 57-year-old Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han; his wife, 29-year-old Huijie "Jennie" Yu; and their daughter, Emily Han, a kindergartner. 
 
 County and state forensics teams were brought in to process the scene and autopsies were to be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death. 
 
 "Sheriff's detectives are actively investigating this case and are working around the clock to determine who is responsible for this horrific crime," Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said in a statement. "Early indications are that this was not a random attack." 
 
 The Sheriff's Office did not immediately release information about what prompted the welfare check or describe the scene. 
 
 Han owned and operated the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic since 1991, according to its website, which says he had an extensive background in Chinese herbal medicine and Western medicine and was a co-author of books on the combination of the two traditions. 
 
 Han provided traditional treatments including acupuncture, acupressure and herbal formulas from an on-site Chinese pharmacy, according to the website. It also says he came from a family of doctors in China, earned medical degrees in Beijing and studied graduate-level psychology in the United States. 
 
 Dr. Glenn Miller, a psychiatrist, who with Han was among three co-authors of a book on ancient herbs and modern medicine, told the Santa Barbara News-Press that Han was "a healer in the truest sense of the word" and a doting father. 
 
 The home, built in 2005, was purchased in Han's name in 2012 for $1.65 million, the newspaper reported. ||||| [UPDATE, 11:10 p.m.]: Authorities have released the names of three homicide victims found Wednesday evening at 4640 Greenhill Way: Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, his 29-year-old wife Huijie “Jennie” Yu, and their five-year-old daughter Emily Han. No additional details were provided in the press release issued by Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover. 
 
 Emily was enrolled in kindergarten at Foothill Elementary School. By Thursday afternoon, Foothill kindergarten families were consulting the school psychologist about how best to discuss the incident with their children. 
 
 “From my very few interactions with [Emily], she seemed like a sweet and curious child who was very interested in learning about other kids and the world at large,” said Independent senior editor Matt Kettmann, whose son is in her class. “Our neighbors and the entire Foothill community are in shock, yet again.” In August 2014, Santa Barbara County resident Nicolas Holzer was arrested and charged with killing his parents and his two sons in their home near Goleta. Holzer’s son Vincent, 10, attended Foothill Elementary School. 
 
 More information will be released Friday at noon, Hoover said. 
 
 Léna Garcia 
 
 [UPDATE, 5:15 p.m.]: Authorities have identified but not released the names of the three people found murdered following a Wednesday evening welfare check at 4640 Greenhill Way near Goleta. 
 
 “Sheriff’s detectives are actively investigating this case and are working around the clock to determine who is responsible for this horrific crime,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover in a press release. She added, “Early indications are that this was not a random attack.” The victims’ names are being withheld pending next-of-kin notification. 
 
 Situated on a seven-acre avocado orchard at the top of a gated driveway, the four-bedroom home is registered as being owned by well-known Chinese herbal medicine specialist Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han. Han, 57, is the founder of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic located across from La Cumbre Plaza. 
 
 Forensic investigators from the Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Justice are collaborating on the investigation. Hoover said the next update from law enforcement officials will be at 10 p.m. Thursday night. Anyone with information on the case is asked the call the Sheriff’s anonymous tip line at (805) 681-4171. 
 
 Courtesy Photo 
 
 [UPDATE, 12:45 p.m.]: A short time ago, Sheriff’s detectives were witnessed entering the Santa Barbara Herbal Clinic on upper State Street, which is run by Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han. 
 
 Han is the listed owner of the Greenhill Way home where the three bodies were found. 
 
 People could be seen inside the clinic, but they declined to answer the door. Phone calls went unanswered. Potted plants had been moved in front of the entryway to dissuade access. 
 
 Greenhill Way neighbor John Frank told Independent editor Lena Garcia that between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesday, he saw two police cars approach Han’s home. By 4 p.m., 11 more law enforcement vehicles had arrived. Frank said he watched an Asian man and another person being led down the driveway by officers. The man was not wearing handcuffs, he said. 
 
 [UPDATE, 12:00 p.m.]: Independent assistant news editor Léna Garcia is on the scene and speaking with neighbors. Cindy Lafonde jogs near the home every day and said its occupants were rarely seen, describing them as “very quiet people.” “I’ve only seen the gardener,” she said. Garcia described the home, which sits above the private condominium community of Forte Ranch, as surrounded by large gardens and not visible from the main road below. 
 
 [ORIGINAL REPORT]: A Wednesday evening welfare check at a mansion in unincorporated Santa Barbara developed into a “suspicious death” investigation, in which three bodies were found around 12:25 a.m. Thursday. 
 
 Courtesy Photo 
 
 Around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sheriff’s deputies responded to 4640 Greenhill Way for a welfare check, said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover. “They found evidence inside [the home] that prompted a suspicious death investigation.” The Mediterranean-style home, located in an unincorporated area between Goleta and Santa Barbara, sits at the end of a long driveway and occupies a seven-acre property. Public records show it was last sold in 2012 to Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, founder of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic. 
 
 As of early Thursday morning, investigators and the Sheriff’s Coroner were on scene. The Sheriff’s Office stated it would delay naming the dead until next-of-kin were notified. ||||| Sheriff's deputies who conducted a welfare check on Elliot Rodger less than a month before his deadly rampage in Isla Vista knew of "disturbing" videos Rodger posted online but did not watch them, officials said. 
 
 Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials released new details Thursday about the April 30 welfare check, which is part of the investigation into the May 23 attack that left six UC Santa Barbara students dead and 13 other people injured. 
 
 Four deputies, a UC Santa Barbara police officer and a dispatcher in training went to Rodger's apartment on the night of April 30 for the welfare check, officials said Thursday. 
 
 The visit occurred after a person who identified himself as a friend of Rodger called a county mental health staff member. Based on that call and information from Rodger's mother, sheriff's officials said, the staffer requested the welfare check. 
 
 Sheriff's officials did not detail what information the deputies had when they made the visit. But a Rodger family friend told The Times that his mother had contacted his therapist in April, concerned over bizarre videos her son had posted on YouTube. The family friend said the therapist contacted a mental health service, who referred the matter to police. 
 
 The Sheriff's Office did not detail the content of the videos, describing them only as "disturbing." It’s unclear whether the videos posted back in April included some of the recordings Rodger posted on YouTube on the day of the rampage. The family friend said the videos Rodger's mother saw in April were less menacing than the now-infamous video he posted May 23 in which he threatens violence. 
 
 Typically, only two deputies respond to welfare checks, sheriff's officials said. But the group who went to Rodger's Seville Road apartment included deputies who were "familiar with Rodger" from a January incident, when he accused his roommate of stealing $22 worth of candles. 
 
 When the group spoke to the 22-year-old outside his apartment, the department said, he was "shy, timid and polite." 
 
 "When questioned by the deputies about reported disturbing videos he had posted online, Rodger told them he was having trouble fitting in socially in Isla Vista and the videos were merely a way of expressing himself," the statement said. 
 
 "Based upon the information available to them at the time," the statement continued, "sheriff's deputies concluded that Rodger was not an immediate threat to himself or others, and that they did not have cause to place him on an involuntary mental health hold, or to enter and search his residence. Therefore, they did not view the videos or conduct a weapons check on Rodger." 
 
 One of the deputies called Rodger's mother and, after briefing her on the interaction, passed the phone to Rodger, officials said. Rodger "told her he was fine and that he would call her later." Deputies gave Rodger contact information about local services he could use "if he needed help," and left. 
 
 The interaction lasted about 10 minutes, officials said. 
 
 Sheriff's officials have remained tight-lipped about the rampage, calling it "one of the most complex investigations" in the department's history. But they said Thursday that based on the information reviewed so far, "the deputies who responded handled the call in a professional manner consistent with state law and department policy." 
 
 Rodger wrote of the April 30 interaction in a 137-page document in which he outlined what he called his "Day of Retribution," saying he had three semiautomatic weapons hidden in his bedroom at the time and had written up plans for the assault. 
 
 "I tactfully told them that it was all a misunderstanding, and they finally left. If they had demanded to search my room ... that would have ended everything," he wrote. "For a few horrible seconds I thought it was all over. When they left, the biggest wave of relief swept over me." 
 
 Rodger wrote that he immediately took most of the videos off YouTube, but planned to restore them before his attack. 
 
 Some law enforcement and mental health experts questioned why officials didn't review the video during the April 30 check. 
 
 "If somebody was concerned about them enough to report them it would seem to me to be part of the checkup," said Ann Eldridge, vice president of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 
 
 Although seeing the videos might not have changed the outcome, it would have been part of a thorough investigation, said Rick Wall, a former Los Angeles police captain who oversaw that department's mental health team. 
 
 Authorities say that Rodger fatally stabbed three men — Cheng Yuan "James" Hong, 20, George Chen, 19, and Weihan "David" Wang, 20, all students at UC Santa Barbara —- inside his apartment before driving his BMW down the streets of Isla Vista on May 23, , firing out the window and veering his car toward pedestrians. Three other UC Santa Barbara students were killed: Katherine Cooper, 22; Veronika Weiss, 19; and Christopher Michaels-Martinez, 20. Authorities say Rodger took his own life. 
 
 kate.mather@latimes.com 
 
 richard.winton@latimes.com 
 
 adolfo.flores@latimes.com ||||| The 22-year-old man suspected of fatally stabbing three of his housemates before carrying out a mass shooting near the University of California, Santa Barbara late Friday feared that police would discover his murderous plan when they visited him last month. 
 
 Elliot Rodger, the son of Hollywood director Peter Rodger -- an assistant director on "The Hunger Games" films series -- was identified by police as the suspect in a press conference Saturday evening. The gunman killed three people in the shooting spree in the beachside community of Isla Vista and injured 13 others before he was found dead in his car of a gunshot wound to the head. 
 
 The rampage occurred hours after authorities said Rodger warned in a YouTube video that he would kill all who had wronged him. 
 
 Police went to Rodger's apartment April 30 to conduct a wellness check after being contacted by members of Rodger's family who were concerned about disturbing videos he had posted on YouTube. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said that deputies had reported back that Rodger was shy, polite and said the Santa Barbara community college student had been having a difficult social life. 
 
 In a 140-page manifesto that police discovered in Rodger's apartment Saturday, the suspect writes that he told the police that the videos were a misunderstanding, but adds "If they had demanded to search my room ... That would have ended everything. For a few horrible seconds I thought it was all over." 
 
 Rodger claimed in his manifesto that he had begun considering his rampage on New Year's Day of this year. The shooting was supposed to be carried out in April, but Rodger had pushed it back due to illness. 
 
 An attorney for Rodger's family said earlier Saturday that they believed Rodger had been the shooter and acknowledged that they had called police weeks before about disturbing YouTube videos concerning "regarding suicide and the killing of people." 
 
 Deputies wounded him during two separate shootouts as he sped through Isla Vista, leaving a trail of bloodshed that ended with Rodger apparently shooting himself in the head before crashing his black BMW crashing into a parked car, Brown said. 
 
 Of the thirteen people who were injured, eight were injured by gunshots, four were hit by Rodger's car and one suffered a minor injury whose exact cause was not clear yet. 
 
 Early Sunday, the Santa Barbera County Sheriff's Department formally identified the three shooting victims as Katherine Breann Cooper, 22, of Chino Hills, Calif.; Veronika Elizabeth Weiss, 19, of Westlake Villiage, Calif., and Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20, of Los Osos, Calif. The names of the victims found in Rodger's apartment have not yet been released. 
 
 Deputies found three semi-automatic handguns with 400 unspent rounds in his black BMW. All were purchased legally. 
 
 Authorities had had three contacts with Rodgers in the past year, including one case in which he claimed to be beaten but deputies suspected he was the aggressor. 
 
 Brown called the tragedy "the work of a madman" and said the videotape posted by Rodger the night of the killings is a "particularly chilling one, in which he looks at the camera and talks about what he is about to do." 
 
 In the YouTube video, Rodger sits in a car and looks at the camera, laughing often, and says he is going to take his revenge against humanity. He describes loneliness and frustration because "girls have never been attracted to me," and says, at age 22, he is still a virgin. The video, which is almost seven minutes long, appears scripted. 
 
 "I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am, in truth, the superior one, the true alpha male," he says on the video. 
 
 Police described how he spent 10 minutes traveling from one location to another and opened fire on random people after leaving a gruesome scene at his apartment, where three men were stabbed to death. 
 
 Earlier Saturday, attorney Alan Shifman issued a statement saying Peter Rodger believed his son, Elliot Rodger, was the shooter. It was unclear how the son would have obtained a gun. The family is staunchly against guns, he added. 
 
 "The Rodger family offers their deepest compassion and sympathy to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain, and our hearts go out to everybody involved," Shifman said. 
 
 Richard Martinez, the father of Christopher Michaels-Martinez, blamed politicians and gun-rights proponents at a news conference Saturday. "When will this insanity stop? ... Too many have died. We should say to ourselves `not one more,"' he said. 
 
 The shootings started around 9:30 p.m. Friday in Isla Vista, a roughly half-square-mile community next to UC Santa Barbara's campus and picturesque beachside cliffs. 
 
 Alexander Mattera, 23, said his friend Chris Johnson was walking out of an improv comedy show when he was shot in front of a popular pizza place. He stumbled into a nearby house. 
 
 "He walked into these random guys' house bleeding," he said. 
 
 Mattera was sitting at a bonfire with friends when at least one gunshot whizzed overhead. The friends ran for cover when they heard the barrage of gunfire. 
 
 "We heard so many gunshots. It was unbelievable. I thought they were firecrackers," he said. 
 
 Isla Vista, which is centered on university life with outdoor cafes, bike shops, burger joints, sororities and fraternities, was shrouded in fog and unusually quiet Saturday. 
 
 Police tape crisscrossed Isla Vista streets, while blood was still visible on the asphalt. Bullet holes pierced windows of a parked car and the IV Deli Mart. A small shrine of flowers was growing outside the business, whose floors inside were stained with blood. For much of the day, the wrecked BMW driven by the shooter remained on the street, its windshield smashed in and its driver's door wide open. 
 
 UC Santa Barbara senior Kyley Scarlet said she heard the BMW smash to a halt outside a house she was in. Scarlet, who is a former sorority president, said two women from a sorority next door were killed on the lawn of Alpha Phi, where a pile of flowers grew on Saturday. 
 
 Crying students wandered up to the spot, shook their heads and hugged each other. 
 
 Scarlet said a third sorority member was wounded there as well. 
 
 Scarlet said she was very disturbed by the video describing his anger at sorority girls. 
 
 "It's hard thinking my actions, being part of a sorority, led him to do this," she said. "When I saw that video, I was shaking and crying." 
 
 In a statement, the university said it was "shocked and saddened" that several students were shot. 
 
 "This is almost the kind of event that's impossible to prevent and almost impossible to predict," UC President Janet Napolitano told reporters after giving the commencement speech at Laney College in Oakland, California. 
 
 Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown offered his condolences to the victims' families, saying he was saddened to learn "of this senseless tragedy." 
 
 The Rodger family is not ready to speak publicly yet, but wants to cooperate fully with police, Shifman said. 
 
 "My client's mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from ever happening again," he said. "This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses." 
 
 Click for more from KEYT-TV. 
 
 Click for more from The Santa Barbara Independent. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report.
– A family of three was murdered in their Santa Barbara County home this week, and authorities don't think the slayings are random. Authorities responded to a request for a welfare check at the upscale Goleta Valley home Wednesday and found the bodies of Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han, 57, his wife Huijie "Jennie" Yu, 29, and their daughter Emily Han, 5, in what law enforcement describes as a "horrific" scene, KEYT reports. A family friend who used to pick Emily up from kindergarten says the family had stopped responding to phone calls and texts before authorities went to check on them. Han, an author of several books, ran the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic, a Chinese medicine practice and Chinese herbal pharmacy, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was "a healer in the truest sense of the word," his co-author tells the Santa Barbara News-Press, per the AP. Details are scant, but the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office says the investigation so far indicates "this was not a random attack." "Our neighbors and the entire Foothill community are in shock," an editor of the Santa Barbara Independent says.