Page 5 - MIN TTC 7 OCT 2015

U.S. NEWS A7
Wednesday 7 October 2015

Oregon shooter’s mother wrote about guns in online forum

An Oregon State Patrol Trooper walks the grounds of Umpqua Community College near Mercer, and his relation- worry that he could be-
ship with his mother. come violent.
Roseburg, Ore. Tuesday Oct. 6, 2015 in the aftermath of the mass shooting on the Roseburg The Associated Press didn’t “I keep two full mags in my
speak with Harper about Glock case. And the ARs &
campus. (Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via AP) the postings, but in them AKs all have loaded mags.
she offered an email ad- No one will be ‘dropping’
GOSIA WOZNIACKA community college al- violent. dress that is linked to her. by my house uninvited
ALINA HARTOUNIAN lowed her troubled son to The online writings by Lau- Harper and son shared an without acknowledge-
Associated Press have guns and acknowl- rel Harper date from a apartment outside Rose- ment,” reads a 3-year-old
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) edged in online posts that year ago to nine years burg. Investigators have posting.
The mother of a gunman he struggled with autism, ago and offer fresh insight recovered 14 firearms six She was referring to a
who killed nine people but she didn’t seem to into the gunman, 26-year- found at Umpqua Com- Glock handgun and to
and himself at an Oregon know he was potentially old Christopher Harper- munity College, where the military-style rifles. A Glock
killings occurred, and eight and a military-style rifle
at the apartment. Neigh- were among the weapons
bors of the mother and seized after the Roseburg
son in California, where shooting rampage.
they lived before moving Laurel Harper wrote in an-
to Oregon in 2013, have other posting: “I love the
said Harper-Mercer and long guns & I have an AK-
his mother would go target 47 en route.” She com-
shooting together. plained about gun-control
Investigators say Harper- efforts in “lame states.”
Mercer’s mother has told She posted several times
them the son was strug- that her son had Asperg-
gling with some mental er’s syndrome, a mild form
health issues. of autism.
In her online postings, Lau- One posting reads: “He’s
rel Harper talked about no babbling idiot nor is his
her love of guns and her life worthless. He’s very in-
son’s emotional troubles telligent and is working on
but there are no hints of a career in filmmaking.”q

Thousands of US drug inmates set for early release

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thou- eligible for release. The U.S. Under the program, a The changes are part of a criteria last year designed
sands of federal inmates Sentencing Commission judge reviews each prison- national bipartisan effort to to encourage thousands
serving sentences for drug voted last year to retroac- er’s case to decide if his or rethink decades-long sen- of additional inmates to
crimes are set for early re- tively apply substantially her release would jeopar- tences for drug offenders, seek an early release. Two
lease next month under a lower recommended sen- dize public safety. Most of who are roughly half the years ago, then-Attorney
cost-cutting measure in- tences for those convicted those eligible for consider- federal prison population. General Eric Holder di-
tended to reduce the U.S. of drug-related felonies. ation have already served Reform advocates have rected federal prosecutors
prison population. The commission, an inde- 10 years or more. long criticized sentencing to avoid seeking manda-
The more than 5,500 in- pendent panel that sets The Justice Department es- disparities rooted in 1980s tory minimum sentences
mates set to go free in No- federal sentencing policy, timates that roughly 40,000 War on Drugs legislation — which limit the discretion
vember are among the estimated the prison terms prisoners could benefit that targeted crack co- of judges to impose shorter
first of what could eventu- would be cut by an aver- from the program in the caine. The Justice Depart- sentences — for nonviolent
ally be tens of thousands age of 25 months. coming years. ment issued new clemency drug offenders.q