Rampage at Umpqua Community College
Coordinates: 43 ° N , 123 ° W
The rampage at Umpqua Community College occurred on October 1, 2015 at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg , Oregon .
The perpetrator, Christopher Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old man, shot and killed nine people and injured seven others. He committed suicide in an exchange of fire with the police .
Sequence of events
The perpetrator entered the campus on October 1, 2015. He was armed with six firearms and a fragmentation vest. Seven other weapons were later found at his home - all of which were legally acquired. The crime, which began around 10:30 a.m., was reported by eyewitnesses possibly religiously motivated, as the perpetrator asked his victims what religion they belonged to before he shot. He had deliberately fatally injured Christians. The fatalities were five women and four men between the ages of 18 and 67, and nine other people were injured.
The first emergency call was received by the police at 10:38 a.m., minutes later the perpetrator was overwhelmed by the police. Police officers were not harmed. Students and employees were brought to safety by bus to the Douglas County Fairgrounds, an event center in Roseburg. The residents of Roseburg were asked to stay away from the campus.
According to the information provided in writing by the witness Mathew D. on October 9, 2015, as part of his school shooting, the perpetrator entered his classroom on October 1, 2015 and handed D. a package. The perpetrator said that there was a flash drive in the package that was intended for the police. D. confirmed the subsequent selective killing of Christians in his classroom and the perpetrator's suicide.
Discussion about gun laws
The raid rekindled discussions about gun law in the United States.
A visibly frustrated US President Barack Obama stated in a press conference in view of the recent firearms incident in an American school that mass killings in the United States had now become downright "routine":
“Earlier this year, I answered a question in an interview by saying,“ The United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws - even in the face of repeated mass killings. " And later that day, there was a mass shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. That day!
Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We become numb to this. We talked about this after Columbine, after Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. "
“Earlier this year, I answered an interview question by saying, The United States of America is the only advanced nation in the world where we don't have adequate, common sense laws on gun safety - and this even in the face of repeated mass killings. Later that day, a massacre occurred in a movie theater in Lafayette , Louisiana . On the same day!
This has now become routine. Reporting is routine. My answer to that, here on this podium, is becoming routine. The exchange of views afterwards ... we blunt these events. We talked about it to Columbine , to Blacksburg , to Tucson , to Newtown , to Aurora , to Charleston . It can't be that easy for someone who wants to harm others to get a gun. "
In the further course of his address, the president attacked the gun lobby, which was calling for “more guns” in response to such massacres:
“And what's become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation. Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out: We need more guns, they'll argue. Fewer gun safety laws.
Does anybody really believe that? "
“And what of course also becomes routine is the reaction of those who reject any form of sensible gun laws. Right now I can imagine the press releases that are produced on the assembly line: We need more weapons, it will be argued. Less gun safety laws.
Does anyone really believe in it? "
Obama said, “It is a political choice that we let this happen. We are directly responsible from the perspective of those who have lost loved ones. ... We can do something, but we have to change our laws. I can't do that alone. "
According to CNN , it was the 15th time that Obama had to speak in office after such an assassination attempt. During his tenure, Obama traveled to Aurora, Colorado, Tucson, Arizona, Charleston, South Carolina, where rampages had taken place, and several other cities to express his condolences to victims of gun violence. Again and again he called for stricter gun laws. His legislative initiative for a stricter gun law, which would have been much more open than European laws, was blocked twice in the Senate by predominantly Republican senators. The National Rifle Association supported the blockades. In an interview on July 23, 2015 (the interview he referred to in his current address), Obama said that when asked about the most frustrating experience of his presidency to date, he would say that he had failed to pass gun control laws on the way. Since the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 , fewer than 100 Americans have been killed by terrorist violence. The number of victims of firearms crimes, however, is in the "tens of thousands".
According to conservative supporters of the existing gun laws, one of the factors citing the rampage was that the college was a gun-free zone. While there is a college rule prohibiting the carrying of weapons on campus, except where the law specifically allows it, which is the case through a 1989 law passed by the state of Oregon.
Individual evidence
- ^ Gunman among 10 dead at Umpqua Community College . KOIN . October 1, 2015. Accessed October 1, 2015.
- ↑ a b Investigators find a total of 13 weapons among gunmen. In: time online. October 2, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015 .
- ↑ The horror after the bloodbath. In: Der Tagesspiegel. October 2, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015 .
- ^ Oregon College Gunman Asked Victims to State Their Religion. In: nbcnews.com. October 2, 2015, accessed October 2, 2015 .
- ^ "Lucky one" in Oregon shooting provides details of massacre. In: CBS / AP. October 10, 2015, accessed October 11, 2015 .
- ^ A b c Statement by the President on the Shootings at Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, October 2, 2015, accessed October 2, 2015 .
- ^ Assassination in Oregon: US President Obama calls for stricter gun laws. In: zeit.de . October 2, 2015, accessed October 2, 2015 .
- ↑ Obama fails to tighten gun laws. In: faz.net. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 18, 2013, accessed on October 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Obama: US gun control laws 'greatest frustration of my presidency'. BBC News, July 23, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Jim Newell: Conservatives Are Blaming “Gun-Free Zones” for the Roseburg Massacre. Seriously. In: slate.com. October 5, 2015, accessed October 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Betsy Hammond: Umpqua Community College not a gun-free zone: Oregon laws prevent that. In: oregonlive.com. October 2, 2015, accessed October 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Julia Glum: Oregon Campus Carry Gun Laws Scrutinized After Umpqua Community College Shooting. In: ibtimes.com. October 2, 2015, accessed October 6, 2015 .
- ↑ JUDD LEGUM: UCC Was Not A 'Gun Free Zone' Because Public Colleges In Oregon Can't Ban Guns. In: thinkprogress.org. October 1, 2015, accessed October 6, 2015 .