Mississippi flags lowered to honor Oregon shooting victims

A man identifying himself as Ian Mercer, the gunman’s father, spoke briefly to a throng of reporters and camera crews outside his home in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

The 26-year-old, whose social media profiles featured content supporting the IRA, apparently demanded to know his victims’ religious beliefs before opening fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.

Two officials familiar with the contents of the note say 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer, who was killed in a firefight with police at Umpqua Community College, wrote that he would be “welcomed in Hell and embraced by the devil”.

Harper-Mercer is not thought to have had a criminal history. Mercer also attended El Camino College in Torrance, Calif., from 2010 to 2012, college spokeswoman Ann Garten said.

But they said Harper Mercer enjoyed his grandfather’s regular visits to America. I don’t want to answer any questions right now.

A day after the rampage in this Oregon timber town, authorities said Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer wore a flak jacket and brought at least six guns and five ammunition magazines to the school. 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. “I don’t know what to do”.

In his speech, available in full below, the President asked people to pressure local politicians into toughening gun laws. Several reports have said the shooter specifically targeted Christian students because he had issues with organized religion. “We need to, first of all, fix our background check law”, Anderson said.

A visibly upset President Barack Obama, delivering the 15th statement of his presidency addressing gun violence, said these incidents are becoming all too regular.

Chris Mintz, 30, was shot repeatedly after he jumped into action to save the lives of people in his classroom, his family members told WFMY-TV.

Police received a call about a gunman on the loose in the college at about 10.38am.

Both the governor and the sheriff said the gun control conversation would have wait for another day and instead it was time to focus on providing the support and condolences to help the community heal.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said three of the shooting victims were listed in critical condition on Thursday evening.

The shooting rocked the Roseburg community, and struck a chord across the nation.

“It is a peaceful community”, said Sheriff Hanlin.

“It is time that we shake off our collective lethargy and root ourselves in a deep, sustaining and holy anger which will fuel a movement to end this insanity once and for all”, the statement added.

Kortney Moore, 18, told the local News Review newspaper that she was in her writing class in Snyder Hall when a gunshot came through the window and struck her teacher in the head. According to the network, “Vicari said at one point the shooter told people to stand up before asking whether they were Christian or not”. A few were asked about their religion before he shot them.

“With current world events, (armed people) would keep the ground safer”, he said.

Hannah Miles, 19, said she was in her writing class when her teacher got a call from security saying the school was in lockdown.

Student Brady Winder, in a posting on Facebook, said he was in a classroom next door to the room where the shooting began and ran, along with his classmates, when they heard the gunfire.

One survivor of the attack says the gunman tried to coax students out of a locked classroom. They remained quiet and didn’t open the door.

“No matter if he was sad or mad, he would always try to cheer up everybody”, she said. “We don’t know which one of our colleagues are down”. And that’s awful to say. “It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger we should feel”.

“Somehow this has become routine”, Mr Obama said of the attack, as he blasted Congress for its failure to act in the face of such killings. “The reporting is routine”.

“We’ve become numb to this”. One was a 59-year-old student whose daughter was enrolled in the same school but not injured the shooting.

Oregon’s governor and three of the state’s congressmen said Friday that a college shooting that left ten dead, including the gunman, should be a catalyst for change.