Updates in the Umpqua Community College Shooting

The nine people killed by the shooter have been identified.

ROSEBURG, Ore.—The person who opened fire on students at Umpqua Community College on Thursday has been identified as a 26-year-old male who was not a student.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, however, would not release the gunman’s name to avoid providing him with further notoriety, reports USA Today. The gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound approximately nine minutes after he started the attack. Police have not identified his motive.

The school has also received conflicting reports on the effectiveness of their mass notification system during the shooting. The system in place was supposed to take over computer screens with a warning and send text messages to the phones of people who’d registered for the program. But at least two faculty members reported not receiving a text immediately after the incident, according to nrtoday.com.

Additionally, the number of persons killed stands at nine (not including the shooter), which is four less than had been reported earlier. Seven others were wounded during the shooting, although that number has not been confirmed. On October 2 authorities released the identities of the nine victims of the shooting. Their names are Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20; Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18; Quinn Glen Cooper, 18; Lucas Eibel, 18; Jason Dale Johnson, 34; Lawrence Levine, 67; Sarena Dawne Moore, 34.

One of the shooting survivors, Chris Mintz, a 30-year-old army veteran, is being hailed as a hero after being shot at least five times while trying to prevent the shooter from entering his classroom. Mintz told his classmates to find safety and told the gunman “You’re not getting by me” before being shot, according to Pastor Dennis Kreiss. Kreiss says Mintz may have saved lives because the shooter didn’t go into his classroom, according to ktla.com.

Various news sources have reported that the shooter told some of his victims to stand up before asking them if they were Christian. Anyone who said yes was shot in the head. If they said “other” or didn’t answer, they were shot somewhere else on their body, usually the leg.

Although some proponents of gun rights have argued the shooting could have been prevented if there were more guns on campus, Oregon state law allows people to carry a concealed weapon on college grounds if they have a permit. One student on campus who had a gun with him that day, 36-year-old John Parker, says he didn’t intervene for a number of reasons. Parker says he was far away from the shooting and didn’t have much information on what was going on. He also feared putting himself in danger by confronting the shooter or being mistaken as the shooter by police, according to inquisitr.com.

Umpqua Community College had conducted three training exercises with local police in the past two years, but at the time of the shooting, the campus only had one unarmed security officer on duty, reports Fox News. The college’s former president, Joe Olson, who is now retired, says the school had considered arming its officers.

“The campus was split 50-50. We thought we were a very safe campus, and having armed security officers on campus might change the culture,” he told the New York Times.

Authorities initially recovered four firearms from the scene and a ballistic vest, but later found more weapons on campus and at the shooter’s home. In total, the number of firearms the shooter is believed to have possessed is 14, according to wwgp1050.com.

Classes will be cancelled until October 5.

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