Christopher Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, went on a shooting rampage that lasted 10 minutes and left nine dead and nine more injured on Oct. 1, before shooting himself during a standoff with the local police.
Kortney Moore, a UCC student, told the Roseburg News-Review newspaper that she was in a writing class when a shot came through a window. The gunman then entered the classroom and ordered everyone to get on the ground. He then asked students to state their religion before shooting them.
Lacey Scroggins, another UCC student, survived unharmed by pretending to be dead while lying next to another student who was already injured and bleeding on the floor.
While Lacey was not available for comment, her father, Randy, said, “She hears the shooter in front say, ‘You, in that orange shirt, stand up! What religion are you? Are you a Christian?’ He says ‘Yes.’ She hears another pop, and she hears a thud as he drops to the ground.” All but one account claim Mercer shot Christians in the head, leaving other students injured.
Lisa Welker, a junior studying social work from Roseburg, Oregon, had a friend whose older sister was one of the injured survivors. “When I first found out, I was kind of a wreck,” said Welker. “It was really hard to focus during classes, I was just constantly worried about my friends. I had just gotten a new phone, and so I didn’t have anyone’s contact information.”
Luckily she had the number of her best friend, who kept her updated. Lindi Bradford, a junior studying EXS from Springfield, Oregon, about 70 miles north of Roseburg, said, “I know one family who lives there, but the two who would have been on campus that day were not on campus.”
Bradford also attended Thurston High School in Springfield, where a shooting in 1998 left four dead and 25 injured.
Mercer left behind a manifesto, most of which has not yet been released. However investigators have said his mother mentioned he was suffering from mental illness, and in the manifesto he complained of not having a girlfriend, and claimed everybody but him was insane.
This is not the first school shooting to hit Roseburg. In 2006 a freshman student at Roseburg High School shot an older student who had been bullying him.
Erik Adams, a recent BYU–Hawaii graduate from Roseburg, was present during that high school shooting. Responding to the latest shooting at UCC, he said, “I remember thinking, ‘Wait, again?’ because there was a shooting at my school when I was a high school student. I got this really bad feeling in my stomach, like I had an open pit, like your spirit felt kind of heavy.”
The high school shooting happened right in front of Adams, and he said he does not remember seeing the victim fall down.
Adams also said many of his friends, acquaintances and fellow ward members either attend or teach at UCC. Fortunately none of them were killed or injured. The community of Roseburg pulled together immediately after the UCC shooting to help the victims.
Adams reported going to donate blood and being turned away because they were filled to capacity already. They also held a candlelight vigil the night of the shooting.
Shortly after the shooting, President Obama held a press conference where he spoke out about what happened. In his nearly 13-minute long speech, he offered condolences and spoke about his positions on gun control. However, his condolences seemed insincere to the citizens of Roseburg, and Welker pointed out his condolences amounted to less than two minutes of his speech.
Adams also said, “Me, personally, when President Obama started speaking, it didn’t seem like condolences and seemed more like his political agenda. It seemed very inappropriate to me. He should have focused more his condolences towards the families that were involved, the community that was involved.” He said he could not finish watching the speech.
Other residents of Roseburg are also unhappy with the President’s remarks, according to both Welker and Adams.
Welker said, “My whole town is up in arms about it. They’re mad. So many people have been injured, died, and so many families have been affected, and what he’s doing is he’s trying to push his issue [with gun control]... He barely even gave any condolences to the families, he went straight for the gun control.”
Jacob Moss, a senior studying music from Bend, Oregon, about 175 miles northwest of Roseburg, said President Obama is “totally using this as a platform, but is he wrong for doing so? It’s one thing to be like, ‘Oh no, somebody fell in a ditch and broke his legs,’ and to sit there and cry about the broken legs. Or someone could say, ‘Why don’t we fill in the dang ditch?’ We can have constructive mourning. If anything, I feel like standing up and doing something about it is a better memorial than just feeling sad about it.”
Obama is planning to visit with the families of victims in Roseburg on Oct. 9
Moss pointed out the importance of distinguishing between gun violence and mental illness. Gun laws, he said, would more affect gang violence while mental illness is harder to regulate. Welker agreed, saying that people are often really good at hiding their issues. “A lot of times we might see someone who has a mental issue, or is unstable, and we pass them by.”
Adams and Welker agreed this issue is more about mental health than gun control. Both Welker and Adams said Roseburg is a very religious and conservative community, in the otherwise liberal state of Oregon.
Adams said it is interesting that the local sheriff is very much for gun rights, yet the local community college bans the presence of guns, or even armed security guards. UCC does not have a security staff but instead has one police officer who patrols the campus.
Miranda Lee, a junior studying English from Salem, Oregon, about 135 miles North of Roseburg, said if there had been more than just the one police officer, “I think there would have been a faster response, maybe less people would have been injured... because there is no way they would send in just one officer to take out a shooter by himself. At least if there are three or four other people around, they would have been able to react faster instead of having to wait for backup.”