George Chen was a 19‑year‑old male, identified as one of the victims in the Isla Vista killings of May 23, 2014. He was a friend of the shooter's roommates and a fellow student at UC Santa Barbara. He lived in San José, California, and at the time of his death was visiting friends in Isla Vista.
On the night of May 23, 2014, George Chen, male, 19, was fatally stabbed in his friends' apartment in Isla Vista. He arrived at the residence and was ambushed by the perpetrator.
The attacker inflicted an extraordinary number of wounds—police later determined Chen had received 94 stab wounds and 11 slashes. His body was discovered in the bathroom of the apartment, left in a pool of blood.
The same night, George Chen, male, 19, was among three young men killed in that apartment—alongside 20‑year‑old Cheng Yuan “James” Hong and 20‑year‑old Weihan “David” Wang. All three were students at UC Santa Barbara, and Hong and Wang were roommates of the attacker.
The individual responsible was identified as Elliot Rodger. He first attacked his roommates and their friend, George Chen. After the stabbings, he proceeded outside and began a shooting spree that resulted in additional fatalities and injuries, before ending his own life. There were no arrests of other suspects for George Chen's death—Elliot Rodger was conclusively identified as the sole perpetrator and died by suicide at the scene.
No additional suspects were ever implicated or arrested. The investigation concluded that Rodger alone was responsible for the murders—including the stabbing death of 19‑year‑old male George Chen, student, from San José.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, George Chen's family took legal action. The parents of George Chen, along with the parents of two other victims, filed a wrongful‑death lawsuit in March 2015 against Santa Barbara County, the sheriff's office, and the apartment complex where the shootings took place. They alleged that multiple warning signs about the shooter's instability had been ignored.
