At least 10 people were murdered today when a gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.
According to authorities, the shooter was a 20 year old man. They haven’t released his name, or any other information about him, but officials did confirm that he is dead. Now, investigators are looking at social media posts from as early as last night trying to figure out more about the shooter, and what motivated him to kill.
More from CNN:
According to the source close to the investigation, authorities are looking at social media posts between a person they believe may have been the shooter, and others.The conversation happened Wednesday night on 4chan.In it, the writer talks about planning to carry out a shooting. Others egg him on, giving him suggestions on how to do it, and the type of weapons to use.The responses are mixed — with some users characterizing the would-be gunman as a pathetic loser. Others called him a twisted hero.In the posts, there is a reference to the UC Santa Barbara shooter, who wrote a manifesto and videoed himself before opening fire a year ago.”This is the only time I’ll ever be in the news. I’m so insignificant,” reads an apparent post by the would-be Oregon gunman.
During a press conference, President Obama seized the opportunity to initiate another outright push for more gun control legislation, saying, “somehow, this has become routine.”
Watch:
Mid-rant, Obama demanded that the media put terror deaths against gun deaths. The media, of course, obliged:
We’ll post more information here as it comes available. Reports out of Oregon are slow in coming, and major media sources have explained that this is because Roseburg is fairly isolated from major population centers.
***Updates***
More on Obama’s anti-gun rant…
(Yes, he did.)
HUGE point here. Huge. Obama took to the podium and lectured the nation on its apparent love and appetite for violence without knowing the exact circumstances of what happened in Oregon today. If he had done this knowing the full fact pattern it would have been bad enough; but the blatant agenda-pushing he engaged in today, in his official capacity, was beyond the pale.
It looks like earlier reports were true—Oregon gunman singled out Christians during rampage:
A woman who claimed to have a grandmother inside a writing class in Snyder Hall, where a portion the massacre unfolded, described the scene in a tweet.“The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christian,” she wrote. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs. My grandma just got to my house, and she was in the room. She wasn’t shot, but she is very upset….Kortney Moore, an 18-year-old student at Umpqua Community College who was also in the room, told Oregon’s News Review that the shooter was indeed on the hunt for Christians.Moments after hearing a bullet come flying through a window, she said the 20-year-old shooter made his way inside and targeted their teacher, pumping a single round into their head.As the young man ordered people to the ground, Moore laid patiently with her classmates and waited, according to the News Review.Once they all got down, she said the gunman began asking people to rise and say what their religion was. After they stood and gave their answer, he started shooting.
***GUNMAN IDENTIFIED***
Officials have identified the shooter as Chris Harper Mercer. From Fox:
No background on Mercer – or details about any possible motive – were released. However, Fox was told that as a precaution, counterterrorism officials were running his name against watchlists and checking his e-mail history, phone logs, social media profiles and online history to rule out any links to terrorism.Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said that as of Thursday night, “we are reporting 10 fatalities in the shooting (and) seven injuries” who were transported to a local hospital and to a hospital in Eugene. Mercer was included in the death count.Hanlin said he did not anticipate naming any of the victims for another 24 to 48 hours.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY