A mass shooting took place today at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR. More than 20 people were shot and there are 13 fatalities. 911 reports say the suspect is dead. The suspect is described as male white, 2o years old. We are waiting for identification of the suspect.
Report by Paula Antolini
October 1, 2015 5:10PM EDT
National News:
Mass Shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College, 13 Dead, 20 Wounded
UPDATE October 2, 2015:
“The gunman was not publicly identified by local authorities. A law enforcement source named him as Chris Harper-Mercer. Other media said he was 26,” aol reports this morning. Nine people were killed and seven wounded before police shot the guman to death.
Photo above: Gunman Chris Harper-Mercer, in a photo posted on a MySpace profile, believed to be his.
“He was able to stand there and start asking people one by one what their religion was,” Boylan said, relating the ordeal as described by his daughter. “‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them. … ‘If you’re a Christian, stand up. Good. Because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,’ and he shot and killed them. And he kept going down the line doing this to people,” aol reports.
President Barack Obama, speaking just hours after the rampage, said the mass killings should move Americans to demand greater gun controls from elected officials, aol reports. “Somehow this has become routine,” a visibly angry Obama said. “The reporting is routine. My response here, at this podium, ends up being routine. … We’ve become numb to this.”
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Original story October 1, 2015:
Thursday, October 1, 2015 – A mass shooting took place today at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR. More than 20 people were shot and there are 13 fatalities. 911 reports say the suspect is dead. The Department of Justice could not confirm that number, it might include the suspect.
The suspect is described as male white, 2o years old, NBC reports. “The gunman was killed in a firefight with Douglas County sheriff’s deputies, Sheriff John Hanlin said. No officers were injured, said Hanlin, who said: ‘It’s been a terrible day.’ ”
We are waiting for identification of the suspect.
According to the Oregonian, the timeline is as follows:
1:35: State officials say they’ve unofficially heard the number of fatalities stands at 13. That figure comes from a coordinating command center, but the Department of Justice could not confirm that number, spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson said in a text message. It’s not clear if that tally includes the shooter.
1:21: Various news outlets are reporting Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said 13 are dead.
1:19: From the 911 dispatch: “I need all traffic to (incomprehensible) emergency. Please have these cities dispatch as many ambulances as possible to this incident we have upwards of 20 victims.”
1:13: From the 911 dispatch: “Suspect is dead, we’ve got multiple gunshot wounds were going to need multiple ambulances on scene.” Dispatcher: “Copy suspect is dead we have multiple injured on scene and we’re sending multiple ambulances.”
1:10: From the 911 dispatch, seven minutes after the initial call: “Code 4, suspect is down.” At eight minutes after the call, “He’s not breathing, is in Snyder Hall.” At nine minutes after the call, “Suspect is down, we’ve got multiple gunshot wounds were going to need multiple ambulances on scene.”
1:06: Oregon State Police have issued a press release: “The only information available at this time is:
It is believed there is only one shooter who is no longer a threat.
There is no current threat to the community.
Staff and family are being taken by bus to the Douglas County Fairgrounds to meet family. Emergency personnel are urging the public to avoid the area as it could hamper emergency efforts.
There has been a Joint Information Center established at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Roseburg. Media- please do not call PIO phones at this time as it is only slowing the gathering of information for the upcoming releases. Thank you for the understanding.”
1:04: Brandon Polamalu, cousin to NFL star and Roseburg alum Troy Polamalu, teaches in Synder Hall. He sent his mom a text at 10:51: “There’s a shooting on campus. I’m OK mom.”
1:03: The Oregonian/OregonLive staffers are reviewing 911 tape from the incident calls, which first came in at 10:37 a.m. The incident opens with a dispatcher: “UCC this is going to be the Snyder hall. The…somebody is outside one of the doors shooting through the door there is a female in the computer lab. We do have one female that has been shot at this time. We’re still (incomprehensible) to get further.”
12:57 p.m.: The Register-Guard in Eugene, quoting a witness, reports that the shooter was a male, acted alone and was shot by police. The newspaper also cites multiple witnesses who say the shooting was isolated to one classroom: a writing and speech class in Snyder Hall. None of these details have been confirmed by police.
12:56: Dr. Jillanne Michell Associate Professor, English
Umqua Community College English Professor Jillanne Michell was in Snyder Hall at the time of the shooting.
“That is the building where the shooting did take place,” she said, adding that it’s possible additional shots were fired elsewhere.
“I heard the shots,” Michell said. “It was a lot.”
12:54: The FBI is sending agents and specialty personnel from its offices in Medford, Eugene, Salem and Portland to assist with the active shooter investigation in Roseburg, says agency spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele.
12:52: The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Andrew Grief is at Umpqua Community College. Grief said he saw half a dozen school buses and four ambulances leave. Grief said no law enforcement spokespeople can confirm the number wounded or deceased.
12:46 The Red Cross is on scene at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, where students are being bused.
12:44: Roseburg’s NRToday reports, “Kathleen Nickel, a spokesperson for Mercy Medical Center, said six patients have been brought to Mercy Medical Center and they are expecting two more.”
12:25: Umpqua student Kayla Marie reports on Twitter that she and others are being bused off campus.
12:13: Michael Griffiths, CEO of Life Flight, says he’s been told there are at least six critically injured patients at the community college. They have sent six helicopters to the Roseburg Airport to assist with transporting victims to hospitals. No word yet on which hospitals.
12:12: Lorie Andrews, 57, lives on Songbird Court across the street from the campus. She was sitting on her back porch Thursday morning when she heard several shots. Minutes later, she said, cop car after cop car started flooding the area.
“Ambulances are still coming in,” she said at 11:45 a.m. “Cops are still coming in.”
She estimated roughly 20 ambulances and 75 police cars, including police officials in their private vehicles, pouring into the area. Officials aren’t allowing students to leave campus in their own vehicles, Andrews said, they are bussing them out.
“Everybody is in shock. Very very shocked,” Andrews said.
12:11: Roseburg’s NRToday reports that Jared Norman said he heard shots and “then everyone was running.” The nursing student is locked down in the cafeteria with 50 other students right now. “They’ve heard there is a shooting, but they don’t know what’s going on. And they’re scared.”
12:05: Several victims likely will be sent to Eugene and Springfield. “This would be a disaster-level response,” said Jim Godbold, director of communications at PeaceHealth Riverbend Hospital in Springfield.
“We’re trying to prepare for a half-dozen or more victims,” he said.
The hospital activated its trauma response team and cleared all elective surgeries. Godbold said the only comparable incident for which the entire hospital mobilized was in 1998 during the Thurston High School shooting, in which two people were killed and 25 wounded.
11:57: Eugene’s KVAL reports, “Seven to 10 people are dead and at least 20 people were wounded” according to Oregon State Police Lt. Bill Fugate, an agency spokesman.
11:51: According to dispatchers on the Oregon State Police scanner, two people are dead and 11 have been transported to hospitals, one is on Life Flight and another is waiting Life Flight.
11:38 Douglas County dispatchers say a suspect has been detained. They could not confirm how many people were wounded.
11:31: Nine agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive – seven from Portland, two from Eugene – raced to the scene and were en route when a supervisor was reached at 11:29 a.m.
“We’re rolling to help,” said Colene Domenech, a resident agent in charge of the Portland office. The agents will do “whatever they ask us to do.”
A shooter has been reported at Umpqua Community College, according to the Douglas County Fire District’s Twitter account. It’s unconfirmed how many wounded or whether the shooting is still ongoing at the Roseburg campus.
Sgt. Dwes Hutson, a spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, says officers responded around 10:40 a.m. to reports of a shooting at the college. Huston could not confirm whether anyone was injured.
According to the News Review newspaper in Roseburg, police and emergency crews are at Umpqua Community College after a reported gunman shot upward of 20 people on campus.
Scanner reports indicate that the suspect is down. Multiple ambulances are on the scene. Some media outlets are reporting at least 15 people are dead.
Police are clearing the science building at this time.
(Check back as we continue to update this report in real time.)
— The Oregonian
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