’A terrible day’
At least 10 dead in mass shooting at U.S. college
It’s a tragedy that has become almost a routine — a young man goes on a shooting rampage at an American school, leaving behind nothing but bodies, grief and unanswered questions.
At least 10 are dead, including the shooter, and seven are injured after a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., on Thursday.
Police say the male shooter died in a shootout with police, who arrived at the scene within minutes of receiving an emergency phone call that came in at 10:38 a.m. local time.
“It has been a terrible day,” said Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin during a news conference.
Hanlan said that police cornered the shooter in a campus building and exchanged gunfire.
“The shooter threat was neutralized,” he said.
Late Thursday, a government official identified the shooter as Chris Harper Mercer, 26. A law enforcement official said the shooter had three weapons, handguns and at least one long gun, the New York Times reported.
Hanlin made no guesses as to the shooter’s motive and said the investi- gation is still ongoing and will likely be a long one.
The sheriff’s department could only confirm 10 dead and seven injured Thursday night, Hanlin said. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum had earlier reported that there were at least 13 dead and 20 injured.
The college in rural southwestern Oregon has about 3,000 students and is busy on weekday mornings, officials said.
Kortney Moore told local newspaper the Rosenburg News-Review that she saw her writing teacher get shot in the head by a stray bullet that went through a window. The18-yearold said she heard the shooter enter a nearby classroom in Snyder Hall and order people to get on the ground.
He lined people up and asked them to state their religion before opening fire, she said.
Brady Winder, 23, told the newspaper that he had been in the classroom next door.
He heard a thud and then gunfire before seeing students run out of a classroom “like ants,” adding that people were screaming, “Get out!” He said he saw one woman swim across a creek to get away.
It is the 45th school shooting in the United States this year, and the 142nd since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., according to guncontrol advocacy group Moms Demand Action.
U.S. President Barack Obama made an address expressing his condolences and begging lawmakers to change the gun control laws in America.
“We see one of these every few months,” Obama lamented. “Each time this happens I’m going to bring this up. Each time this happens I am going to say we can actually do something about it. But we’re going to have to change our laws.”
If the news of another school shooting feels routine, Obama argued, so too does the response on both sides of the gun-control debate.
Calls for stricter gun regulations in the U.S. have met with fierce opposition in Congress, and many expressed outrage on social media that today’s tragedy could have been prevented.
But those against tighter gun regulations accuse anti-gun advocates of “politicizing” the tragedy.
Hanlin, the sheriff overseeing the investigation, has been vocal in opposing state and federal gun-control legislation.
He told a legislative committee in March that a background-check mandate wouldn’t prevent criminals from getting firearms.
Hanlin also sent a letter to Vice-President Joe Biden in 2013, after the Sandy Hook shootings. Hanlin said he and his deputies would refuse to enforce new gun-control restrictions “offending the constitutional rights of my citizens.”