Page 41 - MIN.ON 3 OCT,2015

U.S. NEWS A5
Oregon gunman was Army dropout who studied mass shooters
J. BARNARD
M. MENDOZA
Associated Press
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) —
The 26-year-old gunman
who opened fire in a com-
munity college English
class, killing nine, was an
Army boot camp dropout
who studied mass shooters
before becoming one him-
self.
A day after the rampage
in an 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. Investiga-
tors found another seven
guns at the apartment he
shared with his mother.
Officials on Friday released
the names, ages and brief
biographical information
about the nine dead, who
ranged in age from 18 to 67
and included several fresh-
men and a teacher. They
were sons and daughters,
spouses and parents.
One of the freshmen was
active in the Future Farm-
ers of America and loved
to play soccer. Another
was on only his fourth day
of college.
Grieving families began
sharing details of their
loved ones.
“We have been trying to
figure out how to tell every-
one how amazing Lucas
was, but that would take
18 years,” the family of Lu-
cas Eibel, 18, said in a state-
ment released through the
Douglas County Sheriff’s
office.
Quinn Glen Cooper’s fam-
ily said their son had just
started college.
“I don’t know how we
are going to move for-
ward with our lives without
Quinn,” the Coopers said.
“Our lives are shattered
beyond repair.”
Nine other people were
Saturday 3 October 2015

This undated photo from a MySpace page that appeared “Some of you guys are al- eran hit by several bullets
to belong to Chris Harper Mercer shows him holding a rifle. right. Don’t go to school said he tried to stop the
Authorities identified Mercer as the gunman who went on a tomorrow if you are in the gunman from entering the
deadly shooting rampage at Umpqua Community College in northwest,” an anonymous classroom.
Roseburg, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. poster wrote a day before Wanda Mintz said her
the shootings. 30-year-old nephew, Chris
(MySpace via AP Photo) On Thursday morning, he Mintz, a student at the col-
walked into Snyder Hall at lege, fell to the floor and
wounded in the attack, of- his apartment. Umpqua Community Col- asked the shooter to stop.
ficials said. “He was kind of like a child lege and began firing, But, she said, he shot Mintz
Harper-Mercer, who died so that’s why his tantrums shooting a teacher and again and went inside.
during a shootout with po- would be like kind of weird. students, many repeatedly. Portland Fire and Rescue Lt.
lice, was armed with hand- He’s a grown man. He Survivors described a class- Rich Chatman, who is serv-
guns and a rifle, some of shouldn’t be having a tan- room of carnage, and one ing as a spokesman for the
which were military grade. trum like a kid. That’s why said he ordered students to criminal investigation, said
The weapons had been I thought there was some- state their religion before investigators were still pro-
purchased legally over thing — something was shooting them. cessing the crime scene.
the past three years, some up,” she said. Students in a classroom “As you can imagine, there
by him, others by relatives, Harper-Mercer’s social next door heard several is a tremendous amount of
said Celinez Nunez, assis- media profiles suggested shots, one right after the information and evidence
tant field agent for the Se- he was fascinated by the other, and their teacher for them to sort through,”
attle division of the Bureau Irish Republican Army, frus- told them to leave. he said. “We have a very
of Alcohol, Tobacco and trated by traditional orga- “We began to run,” stu- large team of investigators
Firearms. nized religion and that he dent Hannah Miles said. “A and forensic teams trying
Those who knew the shoot- tracked other mass shoot- lot of my classmates were to process all of the infor-
er described a deeply trou- ings. In one post, he ap- going every which way. mation.” Chatman said
bled loner. peared to urge readers to We started to run to the several hundred investi-
At a different apartment watch the online footage center of campus. And I gators are involved, rang-
complex where Harper- of Vester Flanagan shoot- turned around, and I saw ing from federal agencies
Mercer and his mother ing two former colleagues students pouring out of the such as the FBI and ATF to
lived in Southern California, live on TV in August in Vir- building.” state, county and city law
neighbors remembered a ginia, noting “the more An aunt of an Army vet- enforcement.q
quiet and odd young man people you kill, the more
who rode a red bike every- you’re in the limelight.”
where. He may have even posted
Reina Webb, 19, said the a warning. A message on
man’s mother was friendly 4chan — a forum where
and often chatted with racist and misogynistic
neighbors, but Harper-Mer- comments are frequent —
cer kept to himself. She said warned of an impending
she occasionally heard him attack, but it’s unclear if it
having temper tantrums in came from Harper-Mercer.