On October 1, 2015 at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, a mass shooting killed nine from the ages of 18 to 67, and injured several others, was reported by CNN. The shoot, identified as Chris Harper-Mercer, was shot down several times by officers who reported on the scene, and then continued to kill himself. One woman who survived the attack, Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, said that one man in the back of the classroom was chosen to tell police of the ordeal once they arrived, and handed the man an envelope. CNN reports that Fitzgerald was “asked her religion”, and was shot in the back when she did not answer the killer’s question. It is reported that the gunman also asked every single person that he did end up shooting, whether they believed in God and whether they were Christians. Fitzgerald ultimately survived by playing dead in a pool of blood. She “remains in critical condition”, as said by her mother during a press conference last Saturday by Fitzgerald’s mother, Bonnie Schaan. As investigations commenced regarding the overall mental state of the shooter, it has been discovered that Mercer may have been on the autism/ Asperger’s spectrum, as his mother alludes to this in several posts online. His mother also posted several tweets and blog posts about being “pro-gun”. Mercer’s father, however, has opposing views, being strictly against buying guns, questioning “how it was so easy” to get guns, saying that other people must be asking the same thing. The shooting in Oregon continues to bring to the table the discussion of gun control and whether laws should be stricter, and whether it should be more difficult to purchase firearms. President Obama will meet with families of victims on Friday, October 9.
