When Elliot Rodger began randomly murdering UCSB students Friday night, his concerned parents were reportedly on their way to Isla Vista to try to stop him.

According to reports, Rodger emailed his 141-page manifesto to a few dozen people—including both of his parents and at least one of his therapists—"not long before the shooting began" on Friday night.

An attorney for the family told CNN that Rodger's mother, Li Chin, was the first to see the email, around 9:17 PM on Friday after getting an alarmed call from another recipient.

She immediately checked her son's YouTube page—where he had posted a series of disturbing video diaries the month before—and found his chilling final video confession, titled "Retribution."

Li Chin then reportedly called Rodger's father, Peter, who had not seen the email. While Peter watched the video, Li Chin called 911 to notify police of Rodger's plans.

Then, both parents took off from Los Angeles for Santa Barbara—an hour-and-a-half drive—in a last-ditch effort to stop their son.

They were still on the road when the initial reports of the drive-by shooting massacre began to trickle in.

It wasn't the first time Rodger's parents had tried to intervene. Li Chin reportedly came across his chilling video diaries in April and reached out to his therapists, who called the police.

When the cops showed up at his front door on April 30, Rodger already had written plans, guns, and other weapons stockpiled in his bedroom.

The responding officers reported that Rodger was "shy, polite and having a difficult social life but did not need to be taken in for mental health reasons," and told him to call his mother.