No less than nine students were killed and seven other people injured Thursday in an Oregon shooting at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, on Thursday. The school is about 180 miles from Portland and has about 3,000 students.
The man responsible for the Oregon shooting was 26 year old Chris Harper Mercer. Mercer appeared in one of the classrooms and started firing on the occupants, in some cases it was reported that he was also asking each student what their religion was prior to shooting them.
Mercer Dies During Oregon Shooting at School
Mercer was killed by police in a shootout after police responded to the 911 calls regarding gunshots at the school. At this time, no one has identified a motive for the shooting. During the crisis, Mercer was said to be armed with a rifle, three pistols, and five magazines of ammo, and was wearing body armor.
The guns he used during the shooting involved a Taurus .40 caliber pistol traced to a different person living in Portland, as well as guns belonging to him that included a nine millimeter Glock, and a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson. He also had a Del-Ton .556-caliber.
Killer Had No Known Criminal History
Authorities don’t think that Mercer had a criminal history.
During the current investigation, a receipt was found that showed Mercer had bought textbooks at the college two days prior to the rampage, so they believe he may have been a student enrolled at the college. Mercer’s apartment was in Winchester. Investigators of the Oregon shooting also discovered other weapons there, according to the Douglas County Sherriff, John Hanlin, but they have not released details on the kinds or how many as yet.
Mercer Connected to Several Online Sites
Social media profiles connected to Mercer suggest he was captivated by the Irish Republican Army, as well as being angered regarding traditional organized religions. He also appeared to be tracking previous mass shooting incidents. Mercer was said to be active on an online dating site, MySpace, as well as an unnamed blog and a Torrents streaming account.
There are said to have been posts referencing several mass shootings, including a documentary on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and the Virginia footage of Vester Flanagan, who shot two TV reporters on live TV. There were also posts complaining about materialism and some downloaded horror movies.
The Oregon shooting deaths are amongst 486 such deaths reported in this kind of event since 2000, with some of the worst happening in schools such as Virginia Tech (2007), Northern University (2008) and the Sandy Hook Elementary School (2013).
