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| Oregon college shooting: what we know so far | Oregon college shooting: what we know so far |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| A mass shooting at a community college has left America stunned once again. By the FBI’s definition – four or more people killed – there have been 45 such incidents this year in the US. Here is a breakdown of what we know. | |
| What happened, when and where? | What happened, when and where? |
| A gunman killed as many as nine people and wounded seven more at a community college in Oregon before he was killed. Emergency services first received a report of shots fired on the Umpqua Community College campus in the rural town of Roseburg at about 10.38am. The community college, which mostly provides adult education to students in their late 20s, has about 3,000 registered students but only a few hundred attend full-time. | A gunman killed as many as nine people and wounded seven more at a community college in Oregon before he was killed. Emergency services first received a report of shots fired on the Umpqua Community College campus in the rural town of Roseburg at about 10.38am. The community college, which mostly provides adult education to students in their late 20s, has about 3,000 registered students but only a few hundred attend full-time. |
| Who is the gunman? | Who is the gunman? |
| The killer has been named as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, who lived near the college in an apartment complex in Winchester with his mother. According to US reports, Mercer was born in the UK before moving to the US at a young age. He was the son of Ian Bernard Mercer, a restaurant manager who lives in Tarzana, California, and Laurel Margaret Harper. The couple filed for divorce in 2006. Although little more is known about Mercer, he appears to have left an online footprint that hints at interest in mass shootings as well as apparent support for the IRA. A neighbour, Bronte Hart, said he lived upstairs and would “sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light”. | The killer has been named as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, who lived near the college in an apartment complex in Winchester with his mother. According to US reports, Mercer was born in the UK before moving to the US at a young age. He was the son of Ian Bernard Mercer, a restaurant manager who lives in Tarzana, California, and Laurel Margaret Harper. The couple filed for divorce in 2006. Although little more is known about Mercer, he appears to have left an online footprint that hints at interest in mass shootings as well as apparent support for the IRA. A neighbour, Bronte Hart, said he lived upstairs and would “sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light”. |
| Mercer was cornered in a hall by a police officer who reported exchanging shots with the man. | Mercer was cornered in a hall by a police officer who reported exchanging shots with the man. |
| How did this happen? | How did this happen? |
| There are scant details about the attacks as they unfolded. Eyewitnesses have told reporters that Mercer fired through the doors and windows of a classroom before making his way through the 16-building campus. CNN reported that four guns were recovered at the scene of the killings. Kortney Moore, 18, told the News Review in Roseburg she was in her writing class when a bullet came through a window and hit her teacher in the head. She said Mercer then ordered students to stand. It was not clear whether he had been a student at Umpqua college although a listing from a Noel Coward play staged there had his name posted as a production assistant. | There are scant details about the attacks as they unfolded. Eyewitnesses have told reporters that Mercer fired through the doors and windows of a classroom before making his way through the 16-building campus. CNN reported that four guns were recovered at the scene of the killings. Kortney Moore, 18, told the News Review in Roseburg she was in her writing class when a bullet came through a window and hit her teacher in the head. She said Mercer then ordered students to stand. It was not clear whether he had been a student at Umpqua college although a listing from a Noel Coward play staged there had his name posted as a production assistant. |
| Did the gunman have a motive? | Did the gunman have a motive? |
| Investigators are focusing on reports from survivors that Mercer told students to state their religion before he opened fire. The police were also looking at reports that hours before the attack he posted messages on an internet chat site warning people to stay away. | Investigators are focusing on reports from survivors that Mercer told students to state their religion before he opened fire. The police were also looking at reports that hours before the attack he posted messages on an internet chat site warning people to stay away. |
| How has the US reacted to the shootings? | How has the US reacted to the shootings? |
| President Barack Obama, clearly agitated at making his 15th statement on shootings since taking office, said the country was numbed by the repeated massacres. | President Barack Obama, clearly agitated at making his 15th statement on shootings since taking office, said the country was numbed by the repeated massacres. |
| As I said just a few months ago and I said a few months before that and each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It does nothing to prevent this carnage being inflicted some place in America, next week or a couple of months from now. Somehow this has become routine. | As I said just a few months ago and I said a few months before that and each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It does nothing to prevent this carnage being inflicted some place in America, next week or a couple of months from now. Somehow this has become routine. |
| Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, spoke of her “profound dismay and heartbreak” at the killings. | Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, spoke of her “profound dismay and heartbreak” at the killings. |
| Douglas County commissioner Chris Boice learned of the shooting when one of his staff “got a phone call from her daughter who was on campus, and the shooting was happening at that point”. | Douglas County commissioner Chris Boice learned of the shooting when one of his staff “got a phone call from her daughter who was on campus, and the shooting was happening at that point”. |
| “I ran down the hall, called the sheriff on his cellphone. He was en route to the incident,” said Boice. “We’re a tight-knit community and everybody knows everybody. We’re going to be heavily impacted by this and I can’t imagine what those families must be feeling right now.” | “I ran down the hall, called the sheriff on his cellphone. He was en route to the incident,” said Boice. “We’re a tight-knit community and everybody knows everybody. We’re going to be heavily impacted by this and I can’t imagine what those families must be feeling right now.” |