West Virginia flags lowered to honor Oregon shooting victims

A gunman fatally shot eight students and a teacher on Thursday at Umpqua Community College before being killed in a shootout with police.

Harper-Mercer was born in the United Kingdom and arrived in the United States as a young boy, his stepsister Carmen Nesnick told CBS Los Angeles.

“The assailant was not able to make it into the classroom, because Chris stopped him”, she said, adding that Mintz was hospitalized with two broken legs and seven bullet wounds. Relatives noted his academic achievements, including graduating from Roseburg High School with high academic marks, receiving a Ford Family Foundation scholarship and receiving an Umpqua Community College scholars award.

(AP Photo/John Locher). Randy Scroggins, a pastor at New Beginnings Church of God, cries as he talks about is daughter Lacey Scroggins on Saturday, October 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. He also believes gun laws should change. Parents of students in the classroom said the gunman shot one after saying she could save her life by begging.

Sometime during the gunfight, Mercer, 26, killed himself, according to the Oregon State Medical Examiner.

“Just himself”, said Alex Frier, a stage manager at the college who said Harper-Mercer built sets for theater performances last semester.

However, the mother of another wounded student said the gunman asked his victims if they were religious but did not specifically target them if they were Christians.

Pastor Scroggins said his daughter survived because she was lying on the floor and partially covered by the body of a fellow student.

Tonja Johnson Engel said that her son had struggled with drug abuse, but chose to continue his education after completing a six-month rehab program with The Salvation Army in Portland.

“The shooter is gone, and we don’t have to wait for trials and everything else”, he told the newspaper.

Randy Scroggins received a phone call from that student’s mother while speaking with The Associated Press. “I will forever call your son my hero”, he said of 20-year-old Treven Anspach.

Ms Dietz’s husband, Eric, told People magazine she enrolled at the college to better herself. “I’m so sorry for your loss”.

Hanlin also said that authorities had found one additional pistol at the shooter’s residence, bringing the total number of weapons linked to him to 14.

The law enforcement official who disclosed the existence of the manifesto did not reveal its contents but described it as an effort to leave a message for law enforcement.

The official said the document was left at the scene of Thursday’s shooting but wouldn’t specify how authorities obtained it.

Reid Meloy, a professor of psychiatry at University of California at San Diego, says mass shooters are usually part of two groups – vulnerable adolescents and older males who are “alienated and angry”.

However, conflicting reports emerged about Harper-Mercer’s words as he shot his victims.

The father of 18-year-old Lacey Scroggins – who survived physically unhurt – says his daughter heard the gunman tell one victim he would spare that person’s life if the student begged then shot the begging victim anyway.

Salas said it was like telling the victims “you’re going to be meeting your maker”.

“We have been trying to figure out how to tell everyone how fantastic Lucas was but that would take 18 years”, they said.

The writings include feelings of anger about being isolated and unable to form relationships, law enforcement officials said.

Officials have not released a motive.

Hilary Bernstein, regional director of the Anti Defamation League’s Pacific Northwest division, released a statement calling the reports “deeply troubling”.

The dead ranged in age from 18 to 67 and included several freshmen.

Portland Fire and Rescue Lt. Rich Chatman, who is serving as a spokesman for the criminal investigation, said investigators were still processing the crime scene.

Several years ago, Harper-Mercer moved to Winchester, Oregon, from Torrance, California, with his mother, a nurse named Laurel Harper.

His social media profiles also suggested he took a keen interest in other mass shootings.

Harper-Mercer is also said to have ordered a Nazi SS officer’s leather cap through a website.

“It looked like somebody had gotten rid of a lot of stuff and left”, she said.