Gunman at Oregon campus identified as Chris Harper Mercer, 26

Two hero cops who rushed to defend helpless students from the Oregon school shooter have been praised this evening as a dramatic audio recording captured the moment they confronted the killer.

The interim leader of Umpqua Community College called Thursday “the saddest day in the history of the college”.

The gunman then entered the Snyder Hall classroom and told people to get on the floor, she told the Roseburg News-Review newspaper. “What we need here if you talk to experts is a change of minds here, people to come together”.

Located in a rural area, the school has a few 3,300 students.

According to reports, Chris Harper Mercer was born in the United Kingdom and moved to America as a young child.

“You’re going to see God in … one second'”.

After shooting a professor, the gunman asked students one-by-one to stand up, and asked each of them, “Are you a Christian?”

At least 10 people were killed and seven others wounded before the gunman was shot to death earlier in the day.

“He always seemed anxious”, 51-year-old Rosario Lucumi, who remembers frequently riding the same bus as him, told the New York Times. “This is about the families, this is about the victims, this is about our community, and this is about the tragic loss that we all suffered today”. They lit candles and shared stories of grief.

Roseburg is about three hours’ drive south of Portland, west of the Deschutes National Forest.

Counselors are available at the Douglas County Fair Grounds where students are gathering.

Police search… officers frisk students outside Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.

Brady Winder, another student at Umpqua, said he was in class when suddenly he heard a loud pop coming from an adjoining classroom.

The Oregonian said that at least six patients were critically injured in the shooting, citing an official with Life Flight.

“We all kind of froze and bolted out the door”, Winder said. “I don’t want to glorify his cause”, Hanlin, an outspoken defender of gun ownership, told CNN on Friday. “It was fight or flight”.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin says authorities responded and exchanged gunfire with the man. He says the shooter died at the scene, but he didn’t say whether the man killed himself or was shot by police. As of right now, the shooter has not been identified, but authorities did confirm that “he” is dead. Police have not released a motive for the attack, and what information there is on Harper-Mercer is largely filtered through speculation about social media accounts linked to his name or photograph. “I will not give him the credit that he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act”, the sheriff said. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head”. Several reports said he may have shared his intentions online beforehand.

The letter was a response to failed White House push for stricter gun control after the Sandy Hook school shootings in Newton, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Royals left-hander Jeremy Guthrie says he’s keeping his Oregon hometown in his prayers after a mass shooting at a local community college.