An autopsy determined gunman Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer killed himself Thursday morning after his shooting spree on the campus of Umpqua Community College, said Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin.
Authorities initially believed the 26-year-old killer died in a gunfight with police respond to the campus. He apparently shot himself as cops closed in after responding to a 911 call.
So that is one bit of evidence that disproves the initial assertion by officials that Mercer was killed by law enforcement officers.
Another widely reported "fact" is that the shooter was targeting Christian for execution.
Not so says witness Rand McGowan:
Despite some reports to the contrary, McGowan said Harper-Mercer didn't appear to target Christians in particular.
"He didn't really, honestly," McGowan said in a quiet voice while standing on the doorstep of his house in Roseburg, Oregon, on Saturday morning.
McGowan’s right arm was wrapped up after surgery from a gunshot wound.
"Obviously he was asking what religion, but he wasn't really just targeting. He was kind of just saying, 'Oh, since you have a God, you'll be joining him in a little bit," McGowan told The News.
"It wasn't really like, 'I'm targeting you and I'm going to kill you,'" he said.
In fact the initial reports that Mercer was targeting Christians seems to have come from second hand accounts, and an online dating profile in which he identified himself as a "conservative" and a "Republican," but claims to dislike "organized religion."
Of course that was enough to convince the Wonder Twins to jump on the Christian persecution bandwagon, and for actor James Woods to attack the President for not speaking out about it.
By the way the shooter's father is also now calling for stricter gun control laws:
The father of the gunman who killed nine people at an Oregon community college before turning a gun on himself said the shooting “would not have happened” if his son would not have been able to amass so many weapons.
“The only thing I would like to say is a question that I would like to ask is how on earth could he compound 13 guns? How could that happen? They talk about gun laws, they talk about gun control but every time something like this happens they talk about it and nothing is done,” Ian Mercer told CNN. “I’m not trying to say that’s to blame for what happened but if Chris had not been able to get a hold of 13 guns, it wouldn’t have happened.” Ian Mercer also said he had no idea his son had any guns, let alone more than a dozen. Authorities recovered an additional weapon at the shooter’s home, bringing the total to 14.
The guy is not terribly articulate but I think we know what he is trying to say.
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