A gunman opened fire inside a
classroom at a rural Oregon community college Thursday, killing at least nine
people before dying in a shootout with police, authorities said. One survivor
said he demanded his victims state their religion before he started shooting.
The attack shattered the first
week of classes at Umpqua Community College in the small timber town of
Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland.
The killer was identified as
26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, according to a government official who was not
authorized to speak publicly and provided the name on condition of anonymity.
Authorities shed no light on his motive and said they were investigating.
Hannah Miles, a 19-year-old
freshman, was in her writing class when her teacher got a call from security
saying the school was in lockdown. She heard gunshots from a neighboring
classroom.
Huddled together in the locked
classroom, the students and teacher heard a footsteps outside and a man's voice
call out to them, "Come on out, come on out," Miles said. They
remained quiet and didn't open the door.
Police soon arrived, Miles
said, and after students were convinced that it was indeed officers, they
opened the door.
"It was like a huge
burden had been lifted," she said.
Distressed parents rushed to
the county fairgrounds, where students were being taken by bus to reunite with
families.
Jessica Chandler was at the
fairgrounds desperately seeking information about her 18-year-old daughter,
Rebecka Carnes.
No comments:
Post a Comment