OREGON HERO: ‘IT’S MY SON’S BIRTHDAY, DON’T DO THIS’
ROSEBURG, ORE. Thursday was a very special day for Chris Mintz: Oct. 1 was his son’s sixth birthday. Though the child was too young to see it, the proud dad posted a happy birthday message on Facebook anyway on Wednesday night. Hours later, as the former Army infantryman and Umpqua Community College student confronted a gunman on the rural Oregon campus, Mintz’s son was at the forefront of his mind, according to accounts provided by Mintz’s family.
Mintz, 30, pictured above, encountered the gunman as he attempted to block the door of the classroom, his aunt Wanda Mintz told The Washington Post. Her nephew was shot three times, then fell to the ground. In that moment, she said, he tried to reason with the gunman.
“He hit the ground and looked up at him and said, 'It’s my son’s birthday, don’t do this,'" Wanda Mintz recounted, after speaking to the mother of Mintz’s son. “And the guy shot him at least two more times.”
When Wanda Mintz spoke to her nephew Friday morning he was weak but awake after undergoing surgery for multiple gunshot wounds.
Roseburg, Ore., has now been added to the grim list of American communities devastated by a mass shooting; the incident left 10 dead, including the shooter, and others injured.
Investigators probed more deeply Friday into the identity of the shooter, who was armed for an extended siege.
What is known so far about the attacker — identified by a U.S. law enforcement official as Chris Harper Mercer — appears mostly as loose strands that suggested an interest in firearms and the infamy gained by mass shooters.
Witnesses also said he seemed to seek specific revenge against Christians, and police examined Web posts that hinted of wider antipathy toward organized faith.
An agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said at a news conference Friday that investigators had recovered 13 weapons, including six at the school. Also recovered there was a flak jacket with steel plates and five magazines of ammunition. The rest of the weapons, and more ammunition, were found at Mercer’s home.