California gunman was volatile but passed mental assessment

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Neighbors of Ian David Long have described the man who shot and killed 12 people at a country music bar as distant in public but combative with his mother inside the suburban Los Angeles home the two shared.

One ruckus in April was so extreme that they called law enforcement. Authorities brought in a mental health specialist who concluded that Long could not be involuntarily committed for psychiatric observation but worried the 28-year-old Marine veteran might have post-traumatic stress disorder.

Next-door neighbor Julie Hanson described him as “odd” and “disrespectful” well before he left home a decade ago, got married and enlisted in the Marines.

She could often hear him yelling and cursing, but several months ago unusually loud banging and shouting prompted her husband to call authorities.

Tom Hanson says he’s “dumbfounded” by the massacre.