The father of a 26-year-old gunman who killed nine people and then himself in a shooting rampage at a community college in Roseburg, Ore., said on Saturday that the massacre would not have happened if his son had not been allowed to purchase more than a dozen guns.
“How on earth could he compile 13 guns?” Ian Mercer, the father of Christopher Harper-Mercer, said in an interview with CNN at his home in Torrance, Calif. He said he had no idea that his son owned any firearms, adding, “How was he able to compile that kind of arsenal?”
Law enforcement officials said they had actually confiscated 14 guns from the shooting scene and Mr. Harper-Mercer’s home near Roseburg. All of the weapons had been legally purchased, either by Mr. Harper-Mercer or a relative, law enforcement officials have said.
Standing on his lawn, Mr. Mercer said the shooting had devastated his family. ”But we’re not alone in this,” he said. “My heart goes out to all the families that were affected by this.”
He said he had not seen his son since he moved to Oregon with his mother about two years ago, but that they had a “harmonious” father-son relationship. He would not discuss his son’s mental health issues, deferring a reporter’s questions to the police investigation. He divorced Mr. Harper-Mercer’s mother about a decade ago. “Obviously, someone who goes and kills nine people has to have some kind of issue,” he said.
Expressing dismay with the lack of gun-control legislation following previous mass shootings, Mr. Mercer called for the authorities to enact tougher restrictions. ”It has to change,” he said. “How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, what right do you have to take people’s lives? That’s what guns are, for killers.”
Earlier on Saturday, Sheriff John Hanlin of Douglas County announced that a medical examiner had ruled Mr. Harper-Mercer’s death a suicide. He said investigators had also recovered an additional firearm during a search of his home, bringing the total of his firearms to 14. The gunman had six weapons and body armor with him during the shooting.
The rampage at Umpqua Community College on Thursday left nine other people dead and nine wounded. Mr. Harper-Mercer was also wounded while exchanging gunfire with the police, before shooting himself, the authorities said.
Investigators were still sifting through hundreds of interviews and pieces of evidence, including from his electronic devices and writings he left behind, in search of the gunman’s motive, Sheriff Hanlin said.
Addressing the victims’ families, Sheriff Hanlin appeared to choke on his words. “Please know that we consider your loved ones our heroes,” he said. “They will never be forgotten.”
Also on Saturday, Bonnie Schaan, whose daughter Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, 16, was shot in the back and is in the hospital, said that Mr. Harper-Mercer gave an envelope to one student and told him, “You are going to be the lucky one.” He ordered that student into a corner and herded the others into the middle of the room, then started shooting, Ms. Schaan said in a news conference outside CHI Mercy Health in Roseburg.
She said the gunman asked her daughter her religion before shooting her, but she did not answer. Her daughter lost a kidney from the shooting.
Dr. Jason Gray, the chief medical officer at CHI Mercy Health, said only two victims were still in the hospital. One was in critical condition and the other in fair condition. They were expected to be released in two to five days.
The hospital treated seven victims in total, Dr. Gray said. Two were released Thursday, four went into surgery, and one died in the emergency department. Three other people were being treated for wounds at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in the town of Springfield.
On Friday, about 300 people showed up at CHI Mercy Health to donate blood, Dr. Gray said. The hospital set up a donation station nearby to handle the crowd. Local businesses offered support as well, sending over boxes of doughnuts, pizzas, coffee and bagels. Some physicians closed their offices and showed up to help, Dr. Gray said.
The campus is scheduled to reopen on Monday for counseling and other services, though classes might not resume until the week of Oct. 12 or later, school officials said. Student activities were also canceled through the weekend.
I wish I had thirteen guns.
RIGHT?
I could use another. Never had more than 2 at one time in my whole life.
So it was the guns fault not your psycho son who obviously needed some responsible parents to instill some good morals. No blame the gun not the parents who let hollywood’s social programing raise him. Shut up and crawl back under the liberal rock you slithered out from. 13 guns, who owns only 13 guns.
“Expressing dismay with the lack of gun-control legislation following previous mass shootings, Mr. Mercer called for the authorities to enact tougher restrictions. ”It has to change,” he said. “How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, ” IF THIS ALLEGED SHOOTING WENT DOWN LIKE THIS….THEN THE BLAME FALLS SQUARELY IN “DADDYS” COURT.
“Oregon Gunman’s Father Dismayed by Lack of Gun Legislation”
Well then he and his crazy son should move to China, where no one has guns, and they’re working on taking the knives, too.
Americans have reaffirmed their support of the second article with another month of record breaking sales. There are plenty of places in the “global village” where no one has guns. This isn’t one of them, and Americans put their money where their mouths are month after month, and one school shooting after another.
Go back to jolly ol’ England, where guns are banned. Shouldn’t have divorced your wife and left your son with no masculine role in his life. What sort of drugs was he on, by the way,the American people have a right to know?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree Katie.
Kid must of been a 92 IQ but told he was smart his whole life.
He had that kind of money to buy all those guns but he attended a community collage? And from what I seen he wasnt even an average student.
Many mixed-race people enjoy whats called “Heterosis” or “Hybrid Vigor”. This waste-can dry-hump got ‘hybrid wither’.IMO
Cant blame his parents too much. They obviously where sh!t-trees bearing sh!t-fruit. Plus, who wants to hug a schizophrenic? I dont…
“How was he able to compile that type of arsenal?” Arsenal? Most around here have at least a dozen guns in the cabinet. 13 guns does not an arsenal make. If you ain’t got at least a pistol, a long rifle, and a shotgun in these parts, well, your a pussy. Livin’ here in the Northwoods, you best be having all three.
True. Thirteen guns isn’t an unusually large collection. I know people who own several times that many. (If I were that rich, I’d buy fewer guns, limiting them to just a few key cartridges, and spend more on practice ammo, night vision, body armor, and other important gear.)
Beyond that, why are they even making an issue of the number of guns he had? It’s only possible to use one gun at a time with any accuracy, and the number of guns that can be simultaneously carried (along with all the ammo) is not much greater. So it would not have made any difference whatsoever to the outcome of this massacre if this guy had owned three guns or three thousand.
*** Expressing dismay with the lack of gun-control legislation following previous mass shootings, Mr. Mercer called for the authorities to enact tougher restrictions. ”It has to change,” he said. “How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, what right do you have to take people’s lives? That’s what guns are, for killers.” ***
Wait a minute…I thought they were calling it “gun safety” now instead of “gun control”?
Anyway, he asks what right I have to take someone’s life. The answer to this asinine question is simple: I have EVERY right to take the life of someone who is trying to kill me, seriously injure me, kidnap me, or otherwise violate my rights in any serious manner. I also reserve the right to defend others against such wrongful aggression if I should be in a position to do so, and this might require me to use lethal force.
If killing is always wrong, then the police and military have no more business having guns than I do. Working for a government does not automatically impart moral justification to one’s actions. In fact, of all the people who were murdered during the 20th Century, the majority were killed by their OWN governments.
This is why the Second Amendment is NON-NEGOTIABLE, as is the rest of the Bill of Rights. Not only does our own freedom depend on it, but that of future generations. Anyone who doesn’t agree can go live in another country where the recognition of such rights is not entrenched; there are plenty of options.
“Anyone who doesn’t agree can go live in another country…”
They already do, BMF.
Matrixland.
Just more of the usual dog & pony.
I see a pattern here…
#1 a person goes on a shooting spree at a school.
#2 The parent (s) calls for more gun control because it’s the blame. Don’t forget to throw in
some crocodile tears for bad parenting.
#3 The government needs more laws and gun control for the children…of course.
Rinse repeat…rinse repeat.
Jeez… can they get a new zionist communist script written by hollywood yet.
This one is getting pretty old.
Here’s a new script …
crazy prozac ” fill in the blank race and religion”
Bypasses security at the house and senate.
Proceeds to take out the treasonous bastards and basterrets….. like a game of grand theft auto 5. Pleez…I can think of a better script…this one is getting pretty old now.
God please help these assholes get a better storyline.
Flee
.
Yep, same pattern! There’s no end to their evil, these Bolshevik Bastards and their followers need to be completely stopped! The killing will continue until they they get their way!
My prayers to the people who lost
“The father of a 26-year-old gunman who killed nine people and then himself in a shooting rampage at a community college in Roseburg, Ore., said on Saturday that the massacre would not have happened if his son had not been allowed to purchase more than a dozen guns.”
Really? Some father you are, then.
Playing devil’s advocate here for a moment just for fun, so if what you are saying is true (which we all know is not), you obviously were the dumbest and worst parent in the world and did not know your own son very well and therefore are blaming guns rather than your own fault of bad parenting and thus passing your gross negligence on innocent Americans who had nothing to do with you or your son rather than yourself.
I’m so sick of people not taking responsibility for their actions and passing it onto someone else. What a bunch of Commie cowards!
Might want to watch and see if the FBI is not involved in getting the weapons for the male. Etc. Usually they are behind all mass killings in America in order to get the sheep to “disarm”.
beware of those ‘counseling’ services
No, if this kid hated so much, you think he would have killed his father and mother, and then feel-good about himself.
IF THIS SHOOTING WOULD HAVE REALLY HAPPENED……. THE KID WOULD HAVE KILLED HIS WHINEY ASSED DADDY FIRST.JUS SAYIN…………..
Looks like his Pop is an actor as well……..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciYqBZEkOT0
Supposed Pop!
“Law enforcement officials said they had actually confiscated 14 guns from the shooting scene”
It gets better. He had a 52 vdub herby car with a 150 howetzer mounted on the roof.