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| KILLER - CHRIS HARPER-MERCER |
'He appears to be an angry young man who was very filled with hate,' one source told The New York Times.
The killer marched into the college campus in Oregon on Thursday armed with a rifle and three handguns. He opened fire - after asking many victims whether they were Christian - leaving at least ten people dead including himself.
According to his profile on a dating site Harper-Mercer is 'mixed race,' a 'conservative Republican,' 'not religious' and lives with his mother - and appears to have been born in Britain.
His British father Ian Mercer, who lives in California, said today: 'I'm just as shocked as everybody at what happened today. I've just been talking to the police and the FBI. That's all the details I have right now, is what you know already.
He added: 'Obviously, it's been a devastating day. Devastating for me and my family'.
Harper-Mercer wrote in a post this August about how much he admired Vester Flanagan, the Roanoke shooter who killed a cameraman and newscaster at the television station where he had been employed after getting fired.
On that same profile it also showed that just three days ago Harper-Mercer uploaded This World Surviving Sandy Hook BBC Documentary 2015 for people to watch on the file sharing site.
'On an interesting note, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone,' wrote Harper-Mercer of Flanagan.
'His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight.'
He closed by saying; 'Also, if anyone gets the chance, go on youtube and see the footage of him shooting those people. It's a short video but good nonetheless. Will post more later.'
State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and other officials said 13 people were killed in Thursday's shooting, though that number may have been too high.
'At this time, we are reporting and can confirm 10 fatalities in the shooting,' Douglas County sheriff's deputies, Sheriff John Hanlin said Thursday evening.
'This number is the best, most accurate information that we have at this time.'
Harper-Mercer's motive is still not known at this time, but he came armed with three pistols, a rifle, body armor and a large amount of ammunition.
He demanded that his victims lay on the ground and then made them stand up one at a time and state their religion before opening fire according to one traumatized eyewitness.
Kortney Moore said she was in her writing class when a bullet went through the window hitting her teacher in the head. Soon after, the shooter was inside the room demanding to know the religion of her fellow students.
The 18-year-old laid on the ground next to some of the victims shot by the gunman but managed to make it out alive.
Anastasia Boylan, 18, was one of Harper-Mercer's victims who only survived by playing dead.
Her father Stacy spoke to CNN and described his daughter's horrifying ordeal, saying that Harper-Mercer at one point asked who was Christian, and told them all to stand up.
'And they would stand up and he said, "Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second,"' said Stacy.
'And then he shot and killed them.'
The man then broke down as he tried to understand how it was possible for the 26-year-old to be able to so slowly and methodically murder so many people and refill his handgun without anyone coming to the rescue of these students.
His daughter was shot in the spine but still alive when Harper-Mercer demanded she stand back up, but she refused and instead acted dead so he moved on said her father.
Anastasia also told her father that Harper-Mercer shot her professor first point black, saying; 'I've been waiting to do this for years.'
Bronte Hart, who lived in the apartment below Harper-Mercer and his mother said the young man 'seemed really unfriendly' and that he would often 'sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light.'
She also said that his mother was seen 'crying her eyes out' on Thursday.
The shooter's stepsister was shocked by the news.
'I don't know what to say. I'm shaking right now,' said Carmen Nesnick in an interview with NBC Los Angeles.
'He was a nice guy. He put everyone before himself. It doesn't sound right because he wanted everyone to be happy.'
She also said that she had not seen her stepbrother in a year, and that he was born in England before moving to the United States.
Ian Harper, the father of the gunman who is divorced from the young man's mother, told CBS Los Angeles; 'I am just as shocked as anybody at what happened today.'
The Los Angeles Times spoke to former neighbors of Harper-Mercer and his mother Laurel who described the pair as loners.
They also said that Harper-Mercer, who would often wear camouflage pants tucked into black boots, seems to carry around a black case with a gun inside and loved target shooting.
Rosario Lucumi, 51, said that mother Laurel would frequently call her son 'baby' despite the fact that he was an adult, and would get involved in disputes over loud noises and at one point a cockroach infestation she said was keeping her son awake at night.
Lucimi's daughter, Rosario Espinoza, said the young man always appeared 'anxious' and 'nervous.'
Shortly after the shooting, President Obama addressed the nation demanding stronger gun laws, saying that the country has become 'numb' to these mass shootings.
He also asked that the public look at the number of Americans killed by guns over the past ten years compared to the number killed by terrorist acts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 153,144 people were killed by homicide in which firearms were used between 2001 and 2013, the last year that data are available reports NBC News.
The Global Terrorism Database - which uses a criteria to determine terrorist attacks but also includes acts of violence that are more ambiguous in goal - estimates that 3,046 people in the U.S. died in terrorist or possible terrorist attacks between 2001 and 2014.
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 critical condition and one in serious.
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.
Reports from a police scanner recorded a dispatcher saying he was ‘exchanging gunshots right now with a shooter’ who was located in Snyder Hall.
Brady Winder, 23, of Portland, was on campus when he described hearing a 'thud.'
He told The News-Review he then then heard a barrage of gunfire and saw students fleeing 'like ants.'
One neighbor, who lives across the street, recalled to CNN hearing what they thought were ‘fireworks’.
Police described how they exchanged fire with the gunman who went on the rampage at the Umpqua Community College in dramatic 911 dispatcher recordings.
The officers described how they shot at the attacker as he was standing next to a library as 35 people were ‘piled in the hall’ in fear of their lives.
The recordings capture the moment the gunman is shot dead when an officer says: ‘The suspect is down’.
The dispatcher describes the incident as a ‘major trauma’ and asks for all available ambulances to be sent to the scene.
Police can be heard saying there are 15 dead though that number has not been confirmed.
The recordings were made by emergency services in Roseburg, Oregon and made public by Broadcastify.
They show that police in the rural town try to keep their calm as the full scale of the horror becomes apparent.
According to Douglas County Police, the incident began in Snyder Hall, a large lecture theatre used by the science department.
In the recordings officer says: ‘Exchanging shots with him. He’s in a classroom on the, it’s gonna be the South East side of the hall.
The dispatcher says: ‘Gunshots with the male in the classroom on the South East side of Synder Hall’.
The officer says: ‘Unconfirmed report he’s got a long gun.’
The dispatcher says: ‘He’s next to the library, there’s about 35 people in the hall piled in on lockdown’.
Sirens blare in the background and after a pause another officer says: ‘The suspect is down’.
The dispatcher confirms and says: ‘Code 4, suspect is down’.
After a few minutes another officer says: ‘The suspect is down, we’ve got multiple gunshot wounds, we’re going to need multiple ambulances on scene’
The dispatcher confirms that numerous ambulances are on the way.
Ann officer tells the dispatchers: ‘I need all traffic to pause unless emergency. Please dispatch as many ambulances as possible to this incident, we have upwards of 20 victims.’
The officer says: ‘Upwards of 20 victims, approximately 15 are deceased.’
The dispatcher says: ‘Notify emergency of major trauma, upwards of 15 deceased.’
The Umpqua Community College shooter appears to have targeted the science building because it is a large lecture hall and would have allowed him to cause mass casualties.
Douglas County Sheriff spokesman Gerlad Eifert said that Snyder Hall was one large room and some offices.
Mr Eifert also confirmed that the building was where the shooting started.
A Douglas County fire official told CNN when he arrived on the scene, they found 'multiple patients in multiple classrooms.'
Students from UCC were eventually evacuated to the Douglas County Fairground for a debriefing.
Kayla Marie, who is believed to be a student at UCC, has been tweeting about the shooting as the situation unfolded.
'Omg there's someone shooting on campus,' she wrote. 'Students are running everywhere. Holy god.'
She later offered an update, tweeting that student were being bused off campus.
Jodi Sonka was also at the scene when the shooting began.
‘3rd day into college and there’s an active shooter so we’re on lockdown,’ she tweeted, adding that she was ‘s*** scared.’
She added that she had not heard any gunshots and had not heard the names of any students who had been killed.
The freshman, who had been in the science lab for class, told CNN that students had been told to get into the back room as soon as they were alerted of the shooting.
‘We heard something was happening in the middle of our biology lab,’ she said. ‘We were working in the lab and we were all kind of noisy.
‘And then we heard “we need to get in the back room now. Immediately.’
She added: ‘We were all trying to figure out what was going on. By the time we figured it out, the FBI came in and said the shooter was down.
‘We got taken outside and patted down by police officers and loaded up on buses.’
Douglas County Sheriff’s Department has tweeted that counselors are being made available for UCC students, staff and their families.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the Oregon shooting rampage by homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and will receive updates throughout the day, according to a White House official
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest addressed the shooting during Thursday's daily briefing, saying Obama is committed to passing tougher gun control laws.
'The issue of sensible steps that can be taken to protect our communities from gun violence continues to be a top priority of this administration,' Earnest told reporters.
'The president has been quite candid about how this is and has been a source of frustration for him.'
Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, who represents Roseburg, said in a statement that his thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. He also expressed gratitude for the first responders.
DeFazio says once he knows more about what happened, he plans to work with his colleagues in Congress to find ways to prevent such tragedies.
The two-year college, located 180 miles south of Portland, has more than 4,000 students, more than half of them female. The average age of students enrolled in UCC is 38.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a pro-gun control group, the incident in Oregon is the 45th shooting at a school so far this year.
DailyMail
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