Killer in The Classroom
What drove this young man to gun down nine people at his college?
The students at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, were going about their duties on 1 October 2015 when, just after 10.30am , a lone gunman walked onto the campus.
Armed with an arsenal of weapons, the man went on a bloody rampage in Classroom 15.
He shot the professor at point-blank range before picking off other victims.
Witnesses say he walked around asking students their religion, and shooting the Christians.
Nine people died and nine more were injured. Then, after a shoot-out with police, the killer turned his weapon on himself, making the gun massacre Oregon’s deadliest in living memory.
It wasn’t long before police identified the gunman as Chris Harper-mercer, 26.
But what had made this young man want so many innocent people dead?
Gun obsession
It’s believed HarperMercer was born in the UK, but grew up in Southern California, where he attended a private school for students with learning disabilities, emotional issues, and other special educational needs. He was close to his mother, whom he lived with after his parents separated.
‘They were always together,’ a friend remarked.
In 2008, Harper-mercer joined the Army, but was discharged after just one month of basic training.
Yet neighbours noticed he always wore his Army gear.
And he rarely talked about anything but guns…
It’s believed he collected them, and often went with his mother to the shooting range.
In 2013, mother and son moved to Oregon, sharing an apartment just outside Roseburg.
Harper-mercer enrolled at Umpqua Community College, to study Writing.
Just two years later, he carried out the massacre in the class he attended.
In shock
After the attack, police recovered eight more firearms from the apartment HarperMercer shared with his mother.
The whole community was in shock, everyone wanting to know one thing: why had Chris Harper-mercer targeted innocent students?
In her online posts, his mother said her son had Asperger’s syndrome, and that she kept loaded rifles at home.
Police had found a note at the scene from Harper-mercer, describing his anger before the attack, and his unhappiness at not having a girlfriend.
Other people think I’m crazy, he wrote. But I’m not. I’m the sane one now.
His fascination with guns is believed to date back to 2012, when he tried to register for training at a private selfdefence and law-enforcement
It was the deadliest gun massacre in living memory
academy in Torrance, California, where he was living back then.
‘I didn’t get a good feeling about him, so I turned him down,’ said the instructor, who said he seemed ‘weird and anxious’ and might misuse the training.
All alone
Possibly the best insight into what was going on inside Harper-mercer’s head comes from his own online posts.
In the week of the shootings, he responded to a post about how many girlfriends he’d had
by saying. 0. [Zero.] Never had anyone.
It means I’ve never been with anyone, no woman nor man (nor dog or animal or any other). An online dating
profile read, Shy at first, but warm up quickly, better in
small groups. He also said he was not religious, but was ‘spiritual’. Social media paints a picture of a man with a fascination for the Irish Republican Army, who was
frustrated with traditional religion. He also admired Vester Lee Flanagan, who’d shot a news reporter and cameraman during a live broadcast earlier that year.
So many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are… he’d written, chillingly.
Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.
In truth, the real motive for Chris Harper-mercer’s killing spree will never be known.
A note at the scene described his anger before the attack