Umpqua Community College shooting
The Umpqua Community College shooting occurred on October 1, 2015, at the Umpqua Community College campus near Roseburg, Oregon, United States. Chris Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student who was enrolled at the school, fatally shot an assistant professor and eight students in a classroom. Eight others were injured. Roseburg police detectives responding to the incident engaged Harper-Mercer in a brief firefight. After being wounded, he killed himself by shooting himself in the head. The mass shooting was the deadliest in Oregon's modern history.
Quotes
[edit]2015
[edit]- What is your religion, do you believe in — are you a Christian?...
Good. I’m going to send you to God. You’re going to see God.- Chris Harper-Mercer, October 1, 2015, to victims (Turkewitz, Julie (October 9, 2015). "Oregon College Student Says Gunman Smiled, Then Fired". The New York Times.)
- Hey kid with the glasses, you are the lucky one. I will not shoot you if you give this to the cops.
- Chris Harper-Mercer, October 1, 2015, to survivor Matthew Downing, whom Harper-Mercer gave a manifesto (Chiu, David (October 10, 2015). "'Lucky One' Who Survived Oregon School Shooting Describes Massacre". ABC News.)
- In the coming days, we’ll learn about the victims — young men and women who were studying and learning and working hard, their eyes set on the future, their dreams on what they could make of their lives. And America will wrap everyone who’s grieving with our prayers and our love.
But as I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America — next week, or a couple of months from now.
We don’t yet know why this individual did what he did. And it’s fair to say that anybody who does this has a sickness in their minds, regardless of what they think their motivations may be. But we are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people. We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.
Earlier this year, I answered a question in an interview by saying, “The United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws — even in the face of repeated mass killings.” And later that day, there was a mass shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. That day! Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this.
We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.
And what’s become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation....
We know that states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths. So the notion that gun laws don’t work, or just will make it harder for law-abiding citizens and criminals will still get their guns is not borne out by the evidence.
We know that other countries, in response to one mass shooting, have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings. Friends of ours, allies of ours — Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it....
We spend over a trillion dollars, and pass countless laws, and devote entire agencies to preventing terrorist attacks on our soil, and rightfully so. And yet, we have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths. How can that be?
This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.- President Barack Obama, October 1, 2015 (Remarks from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room)
- How many more incidents will we have to suffer thru before a majority of my colleagues wake the hell up and pass real gun safety laws?
- Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, October 1, 2015, via Twitter
- The gunman who killed nine people at an Oregon community college had body armor and was armed with six guns and five additional magazines, officials said.
ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Celine Nunez said six weapons were recovered at Umpqua Community College and an additional seven were found at the shooter's home.
All 13 firearms were purchased legally by the shooter or a family member in the last three years, Nunez said....
The gunman, identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, had a 9mm Glock pistol and .40-caliber Smith & Wesson, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives incident report obtained by The Associated Press.- Abreu, Danielle (October 2, 2015). "ATF: Guns Recovered From Oregon Shooter Were Purchased Legally". NBC News.
- Among Mercer’s weapons were a 9mm Glock pistol and a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson, according to the report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
- Iyengar, Rishi; Luckerson, Victor (October 2, 2015). "What We Know So Far About the Oregon Shooter". Time.
- Shooting: Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon
Date: Oct. 1, 2015
Perpetrator: Chris Harper Mercer
Guns: Harper Mercer brought six guns with him on his shooting spree—five handguns and a rifle—and owned eight others, including pistols, four other rifles, and a shotgun. He killed nine people and injured seven before he was killed by police.
How he got them: All were purchased legally.- Cauterucci, Christina; Weber, Greta (October 2, 2015). "How Mass Shooters Get Their Guns". Slate.
2018
[edit]- OCT. 1, 2015 Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, where he was a student. He was armed with six guns, including a Glock pistol, a Smith & Wesson pistol, a Taurus pistol and a Del-Ton assault rifle, according to The Associated Press.
2008 Mr. Harper-Mercer was in the Army for one month, but was discharged before completing basic training.
2009 He graduated from the Switzer Learning Center in Torrance, Calif., which teaches students with learning disabilities and emotional issues.
BEFORE SHOOTING In all, Mr. Harper-Mercer owned 14 firearms, all of which were bought legally through a federally licensed firearms dealer, a federal official said. Some were bought by Mr. Harper-Mercer, and some by members of his family.
OCT. 1, 2015 He killed nine people in Roseburg, Ore.- Buchanan, Larry; Keller, Josh; Oppel Jr., Richard A.; Victor, Daniel (February 16, 2018). "How They Got Their Guns". The New York Times.
