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Gunman asked about religion before killing 10

Gunman asked about religion before killing 10
Gunman asked about religion before killing 10
Posted at 6:14 AM, Oct 02, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-02 06:14:24-04

Ten people are dead, including the gunman, and seven were wounded after a shooting at a community college in Oregon, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said 13 people were killed in the rampage at Umpqua Community Collegea college with around 3,000 students, in Roseburg.

A student says the gunman, identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, shot her teacher and asked others in her classroom about their religion before spraying more bullets.

Eighteen-year-old Kortney Moore of Rogue River tells the Roseburg News-Review newspaper that she was in a writing class when a shot came through a window. Mercer entered her classroom and told people to get on the ground.

Moore says Mercer started asking people to stand up and state their religion and then opened fire.

The shooting left 9 people dead and seven injured.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin says authorities responded and exchanged gunfire with Mercer. He says the shooter died at the scene, but he didn't say whether Mercer killed himself or was shot by police.

Mercer's neighbor says he "seemed really unfriendly."

Bronte Harte lived below Mercer in an apartment complex in the community of Winchester. She says Mercer would "sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light."

Hart says a woman she believed to be Mercer's mother also lived upstairs and was "crying her eyes out" Thursday.

Ian Mercer, the father of the gunman, spoke to KABC-TV and several other media outlets gathered outside his house in Tarzana, California late Thursday night.

He said he's as shocked as anybody and it's been a "devastating day" for him and his family. He said he has been talking to police and the FBI about the shooting.

He refused to answer questions and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

The former president of an Oregon community college says the school has only one security officer on duty at a time, and that person isn't armed.

 

 
 

 

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