The gunman who fatally shot nine people at an Oregon community
college last week killed himself in front of his victims after two
police officers wounded him, authorities said Wednesday.
When two
plainclothes detectives spotted Christopher Harper-Mercer in the doorway
of a campus building, he fired at them, and the officers quickly
returned fire. The killer then went back inside and shot himself in a
classroom where many of his victims lay dead and wounded, a prosecutor
told a news conference.
It was authorities' most detailed account
yet of the gunman's death. Previously, they had said only that the
26-year-old attacker killed himself after a shootout.
The detectives arrived within minutes of the first reports of gunfire at Umpqua Community College.
Seconds
later, the officers "both felt they had a good target," Douglas County
District Attorney Rick
Wesenberg said. Two of their bullets hit a wall. A
third struck Harper-Mercer on the right side.
The wounded gunman
"entered the classroom again, went to the front of the classroom and
shot and killed himself," Wesenberg said.
The attack in this rural
timber town was the worst mass shooting in Oregon history. Eight
students and a teacher died. Nine others were wounded.
A private
memorial has been held for Lawrence Levine, who was killed while
teaching the class. Another private service was held Wednesday for
44-year-old Sarena Dawn Moore of Myrtle Creek. More funerals are
scheduled through Saturday.
President Obama plans to travel to
Roseburg on Friday to meet with victims' families. Obama's calls for
stricter gun laws in the wake of the shootings did not sit well with
many people in this conservative region, where gun ownership is
pervasive.
Three county commissioners appeared at a news
conference Wednesday to try to tamp down any suggestion that Obama was
not welcome.
"Regardless of our differences with the president on
policy issues, we await the president's arrival and look forward to his
show of support for a community who is grieving and whose heartache is
immeasurable, especially the families of those killed," said Susan
Morgan, chairwoman of the Douglas County Commission, reading from a
statement.
Investigators have not yet shared any motive for the killings.
They
have seized 14 guns — six found at the college and eight at the
apartment Harper-Mercer shared with his mother on the outskirts of
Roseburg.
Authorities have said the gunman's mother told them her
son was struggling with mental health issues, but no details have been
released.
Harper-Mercer and his mother shared a love of firearms and would go to shooting ranges together.
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Oregon gunman killed himself after police wounded him
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