In Winchester, Ore., Mr. Harper-Mercer and his mother shared an apartment in a dun-colored building that sat roped off behind police tape on Thursday evening, guarded by sheriff’s deputies who shooed away reporters.
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“It’s one of those incidents you hope never to have to come across, ” Marlar said.
Investigators on Saturday, October 3, pieced together evidence on why a student at a college in Oregon went on a rampage that left nine people dead before committing suicide as police cornered him. “Give it to the police”, Scroggins said.
The gunman stormed into his college classroom, shot the professor in the head and then ordered students to stand up and state their religion. I don’t remember – I was so young – if she was going to school there or if she was helping out there, but my brothers and I used to go swimming there at the swimming pool that you can see in those aerial photos. “That’s why I thought there was something – something was up”, she said.
Janet Willis said her granddaughter Anastasia Boylan was wounded in the Thursday attack and pretended to be dead as Harper-Mercer kept firing, killing eight students and a teacher.
Law enforcement officials told NBC News that Mercer left behind a multi-page document at the shooting scene espousing what one of them called “a philosophy of hate”.
The official is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to disclose information and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Authorities said Friday that he had 13 guns.
Family members and victims told CNN and other media the gunman lined up students and asked them if they were Christian.
One of the students who was at the school at the time of the shooting said her boyfriend saved her life when she froze. Another national team composed of 16 mental health counselors was flown to Roseburg to “help our people” and community recover, he said. According to a few survivors, he asked whether they were Christian before opening fire on them.
Eloy Way, a firearms instructor, said he rejected Chris Harper-Mercer’s application after having met him for just five minutes.
Oregon state police released a statement from Harper-Mercer’s family, saying they are “shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific events”.
He said the law should be changed because the attack would not have happened if his son had not been able to get guns.
Harper’s victims were named on Friday, and ranged in age from 18 to 67. They were sons and daughters, spouses and parents.
Guthrie’s father sold cars in the Roseburg area for about 20 years, and the left-hander said he still has several aunts, uncles and cousins in the region about 180 miles south of Portland.
Nine people were killed when 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer opened fire inside a classroom at an Oregon Community College yesterday.
Those who knew Harper say he was withdrawn, close to his mother, and sought a community online.
– He joined the U.S. Army in 2008, attending basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., but quickly washed out.
He also tracked other mass shootings.
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It is not known if the post was uploaded by a hoaxer, but many people posted disturbing responses appearing to encourage the person to carryout their actions.
