Gov. Snyder orders flags at half-staff to honor Oregon shooting victims

In Washington, President Barack Obama lamented the government’s inability to pass stricter gun laws even after attacks like the one in Oregon.

In the real world, Chris Harper-Mercer cut the figure of a quiet young man who kept people at bay with his earbuds and struggled to speak when neighbors asked him how he was doing. The official says that in the writings recovered last week, Christopher Harper-Mercer also complained that others around him thought he was insane.

He wrote something to the effect of: “Other people think I’m insane, but I’m not”.

They were among those killed when Chris Harper Mercer walked into a class at the community college the day before and opened fire.

At least one student injured in the shooting was among those who returned Monday, college President Rita Cavin said.

Classes do not resume at Umpqua Community College until next week, but a few students came to the campus to pick up belongings they left behind Thursday when they fled.

Janet Willis, grandmother of wounded student Anastasia Boylan, said victims who identified themselves as Christian were shot in the head. She says professional groups are available to counsel faculty, students and staff as well as “comfort dogs” that can help relieve stress.

An Oregon pastor says a student who was spared by a gunman during a deadly rampage on a college campus received an envelope with a flash drive from the shooter and had to watch as his classmates were killed.

Schlesinger also spoke about trying to make sense of survivor reports that the gunman asked who was Christian and then shot them. Pastors offered grief counselling at their sanctuaries, the fairgrounds and at a Roseburg nonprofit.

The photos of three of the victims of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College are displayed at a news conference, Friday, October 2, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. All are expected to survive, but one woman is expected to have permanent neurological damage.

ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) – People in this southern Oregon timber town sought solace in church services following last week’s deadly shooting rampage – including one congregation where the pastor’s daughter survived because the gunman mistakenly believed she was dead.