Gunman in Oregon Shooting Was Armed with 6 Guns and Left 7 at Home

U.S. NEW YORK TIMES

Gunman in Oregon Shooting Was Armed With 6 Guns and Left 7 at Home

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTOCT. 2, 2015

ROSEBURG, Ore. — The man who killed nine people and severely wounded several others at a community college here went on his 1. rampage armed with six guns, multiple extra ammunition magazines and a flak jacket, and left seven other firearms at home, law enforcement officials said Friday.

In all, the gunman had owned 14 firearms, said Celinez Nunez, an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, including one he had traded in. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Department said the gunman took five handguns and a rifle to Umpqua Community College on Thursday morning, and had two pistols, four rifles and a shotgun in his apartment.

“All 14 have been traced to a federal firearms dealer,” some bought by the gunman and others by members of his family, said Ms. Nunez, the assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle field office. “They were all purchased legally.”

“We also were able to recover a flak jacket lying next to the rifle at the school,” she said. “The jacket had steel plates, along with five magazines. An additional amount of ammunition was also recovered at the apartment.”

Officials on Friday described the gunman as an alienated young man who appeared to have a particular animus against religion. They said investigators were studying writings he left behind in which he described himself as angry and depressed.

“He seems to be someone who was very anti-organized religion and was suffering from all sorts of self-worth issues,” said a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. “It does not appear like he was part of some larger group.” Patients were taken to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, Ore. Credit Aaron Yost/Roseburg News-Review, via Associated Press

A day after the shooting added Umpqua Community College to the sad roster of schools struck by similar tragedies, people here mourned the dead, treated the 2. injured, comforted the survivors and tried to make sense of the carnage in this corner of rural southwestern Oregon.

Family members of some survivors said their relatives told them that the gunman, identified as Chris Harper Mercer, 26, specifically targeted Christians. Law enforcement officials have not confirmed that.

“‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them,” Stacy Boylan, father of Anastasia Boylan, 18, told CNN. “‘And if you’re a Christian, stand up.’ And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second.’ And then he shot and killed them, and then he kept going down the line doing this to people.”

He said his daughter was shot in the spine but survived.

Investigators are poring over what one official described as “hateful” writings by Mr. Mercer, who was described by people who encountered him as awkward, 3. socially isolated and even mentally disturbed. The gunman died in an exchange of fire with officers who rushed to the campus in response to 911 calls.

Local, state and federal law enforcement officers worked through the night collecting and processing evidence from the crime scene, and trying to reach 4. neighbors and acquaintances of the gunman, who had not lived in the area long.

With the State Police and several local law enforcement agencies aiding in the response, Sheriff John Hanlin said late Thursday, “I’m guessing we have well over 100 detectives and uniformed officers out there.”

But on Friday he voiced caution about reaching any conclusions. “It is really too early to tell what the motive was,” he said. “We hope to get to the bottom of that in the next couple of days.” Accounts of what happened when the gunman stormed a classroom in Snyder Hall began to emerge, often from relatives who had spoken with survivors. One of 5. the injured, Chris Mintz, 30, was shot five times and suffered two broken legs, but is expected to live, according to family members interviewed by the television station WGHP in North Carolina, where he grew up.

Mr. Mintz “tries to block the door to keep the gunman from coming, gets shot three times, hits the floor, looks up at the gunman and says ‘It’s my son’s birthday today,’ gets shot two more times,” said his aunt, Wanda Mintz, who was interviewed by WGHP.

A cousin, Ariana Earnhardt, said, “His vital signs are O.K., I mean, he’s going to have to learn to walk again, but he walked away with his life, and that’s more than so many other people did.”

Of 10 people who were rushed to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, four underwent surgery for gunshot wounds, including one who died in the operating 6. room, and two others were treated for less serious injuries and released, hospital officials said Friday at a predawn news conference. Three of the most seriously hurt were taken to Peace Health Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene.

Jason Gray, chief medical officer at Mercy, said that two of the gunshot victims there remained in critical but stable condition, and that he expected the other to be discharged Friday. He described gunshot wounds to the abdomen, chest, head and extremities.

Hospital officials that stressed the facility was prepared for incidents like Thursday’s attack, but also noted the toll the shooting had taken in a town this size. “One of our biggest challenges is supporting not only our patients and families, but also our caregivers,” Gray said. “It’s been less than 24 hours. It’s still very raw.”

Devon Paasch, 36, a student in the class, did not go to school that day, and she said that after the shooting, she tried calling two others in the class. 7. “I called and left a message but they haven’t called back,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears. “Maybe they are busy or something.”

Umpqua Community College remained closed on Friday and said it would not reopen until Monday. “Right now, it is a crime scene,” Rita Cavin, the interim 8. president of the college, said.

Hours after the shooting, several hundred people gathered at dusk for a candlelight vigil at Stewart Park here, about eight miles south of the college. Amid singing, bagpipe playing and prayers, college students and others tearfully mourned the dead. Speakers included Gov. Kate Brown. Candles and boxes of tissue lay scattered on the grass.

Personnel from several law enforcement agencies converged on the campus. “We all froze for about half a second” when the shots broke out, one student said. Credit Michael Sullivan/The News-Review, via Associated Press

9. “We know this is not going to be our defining moment,” John Blackwood, a computer science teacher at Umpqua Community College, said in a brief speech. “We’re going to go back to school Monday. We will not be terrorized, and we will not be intimidated by these types of people.”

Fighting back tears, the Roseburg city manager, Lance Colley, said: “It’s been the worst day of everybody’s life in the community. We’re not used to tragedies.”

Mayors from around the country had reached out, he said, as had people whose 10. lives have been touched by mass shootings, including the president of Virginia Tech, where a mass shooting in 2007 left 33 dead.

Officials said that they would not release the name of the victims until Friday at the earliest, and that notifying their families was their top priority.

The shooting prompted an angry and frustrated response on Thursday from 11. President Obama, who said the latest mass killing should move Americans to demand greater gun controls from elected officials.

“Somehow this has become routine,” Mr. Obama said. “I’d ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws, and to save these lives and let these people grow up.”

Speaking about the gunman, Sheriff Hanlin asked that people avoid “any glorification and sensationalization of him.”

“I don’t want to glorify the shooter,” he said. “I don’t want to glorify his name. I don’t want to glorify his cause.”

Claire Cain Miller reported from Roseburg, Ore.; Richard Pérez-Peña from New York; and Michael S. Schmidt from Washington.