The Shootings at Umpqua Community College

Oregonians are reeling from the news of a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg. What is known is that a shooter opened fire at classroom at the community college killing at least 10 people and injuring seven.

The Oregonian,which is maintaining live updates on the shooting reports that the shooter, said to be a male in his 20s, is dead. His identity and motive are unknown.

Witnesses report the shooting was in Snyder Hall in a writing or speech class.

What isn’t known is whether this latest shooting will press Oregon and the nation to finally do something about gun control and the state of mental health care. As President Obama said today, when speaking on the shooting:

“… each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. It does nothing to prevent his carnage from being inflicted some place else in America next week or a couple months from now.”

After the Newtown shootings at Sandy Hook where 20 kids and six adults were killed, the Douglas County Sheriff came out strongly against any new gun control legislation.

Twitter updates on today’s shooting can be found at The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has been using the #UCCshooting hashtag. 

There will be a candlelight vigil at Roseburg’s Stewart Park tonight. At 2 pm Oct.2, Lane Community College will  be providing an opportunity for “people to share their thoughts and feelings and support one another” at Bristow Square on the main campus.

According to the Register-Guard, a student told the Roseburg News-Review (accessible only to paid subscribers) that “she saw her teacher get shot in the head. The shooter was inside the classroom at that point, and he told people to get on the ground, she said. The shooter was asking people to stand up and state their religion and then started firing away, she added. Moore said she was lying there with people who had been shot.”

Three students who were injured in the shooting were brought to Sacred Heart Medical Center RiverBend in Eugene for treatment. Sacred Heart hospital, at its previous location, has dealt with the victims of mass shootings in the past. It treated some of the 25 victims of Kip Kinkel’s 1998 shooting spree at Thurston High.

Lane Blood Center has put out a call for emergency blood donors due to the sudden need for blood as a result of the injuries.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said via Twitter that the reason it hasn’t released the victims’ names is because the shooting is “deemed ‘mass-casualty event’; brings specific protocols into play. Protocol/notifications mean no name release for 24-48 hrs.”

A 4Chan posting purportedly from the shooter warning of the incident has been circulating on the internet but has not been verified. The New York Times says the FBI is investigating but also says “messages found on 4chan have a history of being false, misleading and intentionally wrong.”

Obama’s White House address on the Umpqua shootings