A gunman who opened fire on students at Umpqua Community College in Oregon and has been identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer according to law enforcement sources.
Kortney Moore, 18, told the News-Review she was in her Writing 115 class in Snyder Hall when a shot came through the window. Moore said she saw her teacher get shot in the head. The shooter then reportedly told the students to get on the ground before asking people to stand up and state their religion. He then began firing. If you said you were Christian, you got shot in the head, if you said you were a non-Christian, you got shot ion the leg.
'He appears to be an angry young man who was very filled with hate,' one source told The New York Times. According to his profile on a dating site, Harper-Mercer is 'mixed race,' a 'conservative Republican,' and 'not religious.'
Harper-Mercer also wrote in a post in August how much he admired Vester Flanagan, the Roanoke shooter who killed a cameraman and newscaster at the station where he had been employed.
Moore said she was lying on the ground with people who had been shot. As soon as the shooting started, students started to call 911, the police arrived almost immediately and engaged in a gun fight with the suspect and he ended up getting killed by the Police. Mercer was said to have had 4 guns and lots of ammunition.
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| Gunman, Chris Harper-Mercer |
The shooting took place in classroom 15 in a building called Snyder, where English and writing classes are held, a student, Cassandra Welding, said.
Ms. Welding, 20, was in classroom 16 — next to the shooting — when the violence began.
She was working on a short class paper when she heard several loud bursts, like balloons popping.
There were about 20 people in the classroom. A woman seated behind her rose to shut the classroom door, she said, and was struck in the stomach by several bullets.
“He was just out there, hanging outside the door,” Ms. Welding said of the gunman, “and she slumped over, and I knew something wasn’t right. And they’re like, ‘She got shot, she got shot.’ And everyone is panicking.”
A friend of the injured woman dragged the woman into the room and began administering CPR, Ms. Welding said. Someone clicked the door shut. Someone shut off the lights, and the students huddled in the corner, blocking themselves with desks and backpacks. “I heard more shooting,” she said. “It was horrific.”
“My whole body was shaking, a chill was going down my spine. We called 911,” said Ms. Welding. “I was on the phone with my mom pretty much the entire time. I knew this could have been the last time I talked to her.”
John Hanlin, the Douglas County sheriff who appeared at two news conferences to provide updates on the victims and police investigation, was one of hundreds of sheriffs in 2013 who argued against new gun laws, according to Mother Jones.
“Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings,” he wrote in the letter to Vice President Joseph R. Biden, dated January 15, 2013.
He said he agreed with the sheriff of Linn County, Ore., Tim Mueller, and included a quotation from him:
“In the wake of recent criminal events, politicians are attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims by advocating for laws that would prevent honest, law abiding Americans from possessing certain firearms and ammunition magazines. We are Americans. We must not allow, nor shall we tolerate, the actions of criminals, no matter how heinous the crimes, to prompt politicians to enact laws that will infringe upon the liberties of responsible citizens who have broken no laws.” Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley also released a statement on the shooting.
"I am absolutely heartbroken by today's news," Merkley said. "I have been in touch with local officials to express my deepest condolences and offer my assistance in any way possible and I will continue to monitor this tragedy and its response.
"The hearts and thoughts of all Oregonians are with the victims, their families and the entire UCC and Roseburg communities." "It's extremely concerning and sad," said Endi Hartigan, spokeswoman for the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission".
Shortly after the shooting, President Obama addressed the nation demanding stronger gun laws, saying that the country has become 'numb' to these mass shootings.
A Mercy Health Medical Center doctor said in press conference, that 10 patients arrived at the hospital and three were transferred to PeaceHealth in Springfield.
Two of the patients were treated and four people went to the operating room with three of those patients stable now and one in critical condition. One person died in the emergency room.
Of the three female victims at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, two were in serious condition and one in critical.
Gov. Brown’s spokeswoman Kristen Grainger confirmed that the shooter was a student at the school to ABC News.
The station KATU reported, citing a school official, that gunfire erupted at Snyder Hall located in the English building on campus, which is comprised of about 16 auxiliary buildings. Authorities said that there doesn’t appear to be a link with international terrorism.
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