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Roseburg, Ore. • The gunman who killed nine people at an Oregon community college last week complained in writings he left behind that everyone else was crazy and ranted about not having a girlfriend, a law enforcement official said.
The mother of killer Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, has told investigators that he was struggling with some mental health issues, the official also said Monday. The official is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to speak publicly because it is ongoing.
In the writings that spanned a couple of pages, Harper-Mercer seemed to feel like he was rational while others around him were not, the official said.
He wrote something to the effect of: "Other people think I'm crazy, but I'm not. I'm the sane one," the official said.
Harper-Mercer killed nine people and wounded nine others, then killed himself after a shootout with police.
Some faculty, staff and students returned Monday to Umpqua Community College for the first time since the shooting, while President Barack Obama announced he will travel Friday to Oregon to visit privately with victims' families.
Classes do not resume until next week, but some students came to the campus to pick up belongings they left behind when they fled the attack Thursday. Others met with professional groups to work through their trauma and grief.
A memorial was growing on the driveway leading to Snyder Hall, where Harper-Mercer opened fire. —
Neighbors: Mom and son would go target shooting together
Portland, Ore. • The mother of a gunman who killed nine people and himself at an Oregon community college allowed her troubled son to have guns and acknowledged in online posts that he struggled with autism, but she didn't seem to know he was potentially violent. The online writings by Laurel Harper date from a year ago to nine years ago. Harper and Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, shared an apartment outside Roseburg. Investigators have recovered 14 firearms — six found at Umpqua Community College, where the killings occurred, and eight at the apartment. Neighbors of the mother and son in California, where they lived before moving to Oregon in 2013, have said Harper-Mercer and his mother would go target shooting together.
"I keep two full mags in my Glock case. And the ARs & AKs all have loaded mags. No one will be 'dropping' by my house uninvited without acknowledgment," reads a 3-year-old posting. She was referring to a Glock handgun and to military-style rifles. A Glock and a military-style rifle were among the weapons seized after the Roseburg shooting rampage.
The Associated Press