College gunman, 26, 'who had Asperger's and went to a special-needs school', handed a student a mystery thumb drive with 'possible manifesto' before opening fire and shooting dead nine as first of the victims is confirmed

• Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, killed nine and wounded at least seven at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon 
• Killer with British father died in gunfight with police and had four guns - three pistols and one rifle and body armor 
• Harper-Mercer handed someone on campus a sheaf of papers and a thumb drive reportedly containing racially hateful writings before shooting 
• One of first casualties of was identified as 19-year-old student Lucero Alcaraz, a first-year student who aspired to become a pediatric nurse 
• He had downloaded This World Surviving Sandy Hook BBC Documentary 2015 three days before rampage, according to his profile on a website community
• Harper-Mercer said he was 'mixed race,' a 'conservative Republican,' 'not religious,' and 'living with parents' 
• He celebrated Nazis and IRA online and graduated from a school for students 'with learning disabilities and emotional issues' in the Switzer Learning Center in Torrance
• His mother, Laurel, wrote in online health forum that she had an 'Asperger’s kid'
• In August he praised TV station shooter Vester Flanagan and said killing more people meant 'more limelight'
• Harper-Mercer made his victims lie on the ground and then stand up and state their religion before shooting them in the head if they responded Christian
• He said: 'Good, you'll see God in a second' 
• Officials said Friday they have recovered six guns from college campus and seven from Mercer's home, all purchased legally by him or a family member  
• Do you know Chris Harper-Mercer or his family? email: tips@mailonline.co.uk

By Snejana Farberov and Chris Spargo and Daniel Bates and Martin Robinson for MailOnline

Published: 11:50 EST, 2 October 2015 | Updated: 12:59 EST, 2 October 2015

Moments before a heavily armed Chris Harper-Mercer stormed into a classroom at Umpqua Community College and killed nine people in cold blood, he handed someone on campus a sheaf of papers and a thumb driver containing hateful statements, it was revealed today. 

It has emerged earlier that the 26-year-old Oregon college gunman who may have been suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome celebrated other mass murderers, attended a school for students with 'emotional issues' and said: 'The more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight'.

ABC News reported Friday, citing unnamed sources, that Harper-Mercer left writings behind 'espousing racial and social hatred,' suggesting that he may have penned a manifesto before going on the rampage.

It is unclear at this time whether the 26-year-old man knew the person whom he handed the documents.

The killer, whose father is British and said he idolized the IRA and Nazis, on Thursday walked into Umpqua Community College in Roseburg wearing body armor and carrying three handguns and a rifle before shooting dead nine students and wounding at least seven more.

One of the first casualties of the massacre was identified this morning as 19-year-old student Lucero Alcaraz.

Alcaraz's older sister, Maria Leticia, posted a heartbreaking tribute to her slain sibling on Facebook saying the first-year UCC student had aspired to be a pediatric nurse.

'Lucero, I miss you I wish you were here,' Maria Alcaraz wrote. 'I can't sleep. I never got the chance to tell you how proud of you I was.

'You would have been a great pediatric nurse. I was so proud of you for getting you college completely paid through scholarships and you made it into college honors.

'You were going to do great things love. I ache so much right now..I need you..'

in an earlier posting, Maria Alcaraz spoke of her pain and anger at losing her sister in an act of senseless violence. 

Scroll down for video 

Suspect: Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, has been identified as the gunman at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg - an American with links to Britain who appeared to celebrate Nazis and the IRA

Menacing: Chris Harper-Mercer in two undated photos, one posted to a dating site (left) and one posted to his MySpace account (right)

'Never in a million years would I have imagined going through something like this,' she wrote. 'She was my best friend and my sister. Today, I lost her. I can't begin to describe how I feel. I'm full of anger, pain, sadness, regret that I didn't get the chance to see her or prevent this from happening.

'I don't know how I will make it through this ...I don't know if I can ever relieve this pain. Rest in piece sister...I'll see you soon.' 

Lucero is survived by five siblings. Her 14-year-old sister, Eileen, told BuzzFeed the college student was a talented artist and the 'responsible one' in the family. 

The identities of the other eight fatalities in the shooting have yet to be confirmed. 

Witnesses described how Harper-Mercer had made his victims stand-up and say if they were Christian before telling them: 'Good, you'll see God in a second' and shooting them in the head. If students answered anything other than Christian they were shot in the body.

After his bloody rampage was reported to police he was then killed in a gunfight with officers with one source saying: 'He appears to be an angry young man who was very filled with hate'.

His British father Ian Mercer, who lives in California, said: 'I'm just as shocked as everybody at what happened. I've just been talking to the police and the FBI. That's all the details I have right now, is what you know already.

He added: 'Obviously, it's been a devastating day. Devastating for me and my family'. 

Neighbors said Harper-Mercer was a visibly ‘anxious’ and friendless loner who lived with his mother and surfed dating sites looking for love. He was often seen wearing camouflage clothing and may even have joined the U.S. Army.

Local reports say the gunman was a former student of the Switzer Learning Center in Torrance, California, which is a school for young people with emotional issues and learning disabilities. He graduated in 2009 and moved to Oregon with his mother in 2013.  

Chris Harper-Mercer’s mother, Laurel, a nurse, wrote in an online health forum that she had an ‘Asperger’s kid’.

The email she used was linked to her by public records, which also confirmed her profession.

According to reports, she also told neighbors that her son had ‘mental issues’ and attended a special school for pupils with special needs.

Whilst there is no suggestion that Mercer’s mental health problems led directly to his rampage, Adam Lanza, who killed 26 teachers and children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 had Asperger’s.

Assessing what support Mercer’s family were given and how they coped with his condition will likely form a key part in understanding why he became a mass murderer.

Laurel Mercer, 64, wrote numerous posts under her email address advising people about a range of conditions.

She spoke about her child’s Asperger’s in response to a question from a user on Yahoo Health who was interested in the best pets for somebody with Asperger’s.

First victim named: One of the first fatalities in the massacre was identified this morning as 19-year-old student Lucero Alcaraz (pictured center)

Sister's pain: Alcaraz's older sister, Maria Leticia (left), posted a heartbreaking tribute to her slain sibling on Facebook saying the first-year UCC student had aspired to be a pediatric nurse

The admission backs up reports by CNN which said that Mercer’s family have told law enforcement that he sought treatment for mental problems.

The New York Times said that whilst living in his former home in Torrance, Los Angeles, he was extremely bothered by barking dogs and cockroaches in their apartment.

Neighbor Julia Winstead said that Laurel Mercer told her: ‘My son is dealing with some mental issues, and the roaches are really irritating him’.

‘She said they were going to go stay in a motel. Until that time, I didn’t know she had a son.’

Whilst Mercer’s motives are still unclear, there do appear to be parallels between his life and that of Lanza, who was 20 when he shot himself dead.

Both lived with their mothers with whom they reportedly had a close relationship.

And both have been described as loners who lived much of their lives on the Internet.

In ‘Newtown: An American Tragedy’, journalist Matthew Lysiak traced how Lanza’s mother Nancy struggled to cope with his Asperger’s whilst raising him as a single mother.

In 2000 she told a friend that there was ‘something very wrong’ with Adam, the book says.

In 2008 she told a friend that she thought he was a ‘lost cause’ and by the time he carried out his massacre they were only communicating by email rather than talking.

Lanza would spend hours in his room playing games like Half Life and newspaper cuttings and Internet articles relating to mass school shootings dating back to 1891, showing that he researched his ‘subject’ like an academic.

Last year, a report by the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate found that Lanza’s ‘untreated mental illness was a predisposing factor’ in the tragedy.

It found that he was ‘completely untreated’ in the years before the massacre and did not get the drugs and services he needed, though it did not apportion blame.

Posts across a host of websites also show how Harper-Mercer apparently idolized the violence of Nazi Germany and the Irish Republican Army.

He used a reference to a Nazi war medal as his dating profile name, and posted glowing reviews of Nazi memorabilia he had bought online.

His Myspace page is littered with images glorifying masked IRA fighters, lauding them as ‘undefeated’ and ‘looking cool’ – right next to images of him holding a rifle.

Harper-Mercer wrote in a post this August about how much he admired Vester Flanagan, the Roanoke shooter who killed a cameraman and newscaster at the television station where he had been employed after getting fired. 

Tragedy: A victim covered in a bloody blanket is seen being wheeled to an ambulance from the college campus after Thursday's shooting, where at least nine died

More than 100 law enforcement officials were on the scene of the deadly shooting in rural Oregon

People gather for a candlelight vigil at Stewart Park in Roseburg Thursday evening hours after the mass shooting

The morning after: Crime scene tape limits access to Umpqua Community College on October 2 in Roseburg

Authorities block a road leading to the Umpqua Community College campus, which remains a crime scene

On that same profile it also showed that just three days ago Harper-Mercer uploaded This World Surviving Sandy Hook BBC Documentary 2015 for people to watch on the file sharing site.

'On an interesting note, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone,' wrote Harper-Mercer of Flanagan. 

'His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight.'

He closed by saying; 'Also, if anyone gets the chance, go on youtube and see the footage of him shooting those people. It's a short video but good nonetheless. Will post more later.' 

According to his profile on a dating site Harper-Mercer is 'mixed race,' a 'conservative Republican,' 'not religious' and lives with his mother - and appears to have a large family from Britain. He was also a member of a group called 'Doesn't Like Organised Religion'.

So far nine victims have died plus the gunman making 10 fatalities in total.

'At this time, we are reporting and can confirm 10 fatalities in the shooting,' Douglas County sheriff's deputies, Sheriff John Hanlin said Thursday evening.

'This number is the best, most accurate information that we have at this time.' 

In shock: The father of Chris Harper-Mercer, Ian Mercer, who is British, said he was shocked that his son has gone on a murderous rampage

A DHS police investigator is seen with a canine at residential location believed to be the apartment where Harper-Mercer lived with his mother

Douglas County Deputy Sheriff Greg Kennerly, left, and Oregon State Trooper Tom Willis, stand guard outside the apartment building, where Umpqua Community College gunman Chris Harper Mercer lived

Hannah Miles (center) is reunited with her sister (left) and father Gary Miles (right) after the shooting

Students, staff and faculty with their hands up are evacuated from Umpqua Community College in Roseburg

Police search students outside Umpqua Community College in Roseburg after Thursday's rampage 

Gallery: On the killer's MySpace page he has several posts and pictures where he appears to praise the IRA and their terrorist activities

Harper-Mercer's parents Ian Mercer and Laurel Harper were married until 2006, and he lived in an apartment complex near the shooting.

The father's side of the family comes from Preston in the UK although most appear to now live in California. His grandfather Leo, who lives in Lancashire, was unavailable for comment at home because he is in America on holiday.

Family: The shooter's British relatives come from Preston although most appear to now live in California. His grandfather Leo, pictured, lives in Lancashire, but was unavailable for comment at home because he is in America on holiday

The gunman's motive is still not known at this time, but he came armed with three pistols, a rifle, body armor and a large amount of ammunition.

He demanded that his victims lay on the ground and then made them stand up one at a time and state their religion before opening fire, according to traumatized eyewitnesses. Christians were shot execution style while others were shot in the body. 

Autumn Vicari told NBC News her 19-year-old brother J.J. was in a classroom when Harper-Mercer opened fire but managed to escape. He saw the gunman ask victims if they were Christian and if they responded 'yes', he shot them in the head. If they said 'other' or refused to answer he shot them in the body.   

Kortney Moore said she was in her writing class when a bullet went through the window hitting her teacher in the head. Soon after, the shooter was inside the room demanding to know the religion of her fellow students. 

The 18-year-old laid on the ground next to some of the victims shot by the gunman but managed to make it out alive.  

Anastasia Boylan, 18, was one of Harper-Mercer's victims who only survived by playing dead.

Her father Stacy spoke to CNN and described his daughter's horrifying ordeal.

'And they would stand up and he said, "Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second,"' said Stacy.

'And then he shot and killed them.'

His daughter was shot in the spine but still alive when Harper-Mercer demanded she stand back up, but she refused and instead acted dead so he moved on, her father said.

Anastasia also told her father that Harper-Mercer shot her professor first point black, saying; 'I've been waiting to do this for years.' 

A heroic student charged at the Oregon college shooter and was shot five times as he tried to save his classmates, his family said.

Army veteran Chris Mintz, 30, was taken to hospital following the massacre.

His cousin Derek Bourgeois told DailyMail.com: ‘I was told he went after the shooter.'

PARIS TRAIN HERO AVOIDED MASS SHOOTING AT HIS COLLEGE BY APPEARING ON DWTS 

Alek Skarlatos told Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday that he would have been on the Umpqua Community College campus when a mass shooting took place if not for Dancing With The Stars.

The 22-year-old Paris train hero discussed the shooting at the Oregon campus in an Ellen episode that will air on Monday.

Hitting home: Alec Skarlatos during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show discussed the Oregon school shooting

The Army National Guard Specialist while appearing on the chat show with his DWTS partner Lindsay Arnold, revealed he took classes in Snyder Hall where the shooting first erupted.

 'Right, I had classes in Snyder Hall. I mean, it’s a fairly small Community College and just the town in general everybody knows each other so with that many deceased I mean everybody’s going to know at least one person,' Skarlatos said.

'I mean I would have been there today if I didn’t agree to do this show. I had classes picked out and everything,' he said. 

Skarlatos has been studying at the community college for a career in law enforcement.

Skarlatos was rehearsing with Arnold, 21, when he learned that his college had been attacked.

He immediately left the studio and began making calls to check in on the safety of friends.

'Everyone send prayers out to ucc,' Skarlatos tweeted on Thursday to his more than 9,000 followers.

He later tweeted that he was returning to his hometown of Roseburg, Oregon. 

He and his two friends, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler, made headlines around the world in August when they heroically overpowered a man that opened fire on a train from Amsterdam to Paris.

The heroes were awarded France’s highest honor by President François Hollande in Paris on August 24.

It was announced in early September that Skarlatos had joined the cast of the ABC dancing competition show.

‘There was no way he was going to stand around and watch something this horrific happen.’

Bourgeois, who lives in North Carolina, said no vital organs were hit when Mintz was shot multiple times and he is expected to recover after spending most of Thursday in surgery. 

Student Cassandra Welding called her mother when she saw her first classmate get shot. 

'I heard a really loud ka-pow noise, almost like a balloon popping, and we, all of our classmates, jumped and we did not know what it was,' Welding said. 

'We knew something wasn’t right, and so a classmate of mine went to go open the door to see what was happening next door to where the shooting occurred, and she opened the door and, unfortunately, she got shot twice and she fell down and collapsed.' 

She was shot in the arm and abdomen and a fellow student performed CPR.

'I heard her breathing was really labored, she was like gasping for air, and we were just in frantic mode at that point,' she said.

Then Welding called her mother, Lisa, who was able to advise the classroom over the phone. 

'First thing, make sure all of the doors are secured and make sure you start barricading,' Welding told her daughter. 'If there’s anything there, I don’t care how, just make sure you guys are all safe to keep somebody out.'  

Brady Winder, 23, of Portland, was on campus when he described hearing a 'thud.'

He told The News-Review he then then heard a barrage of gunfire and saw students fleeing 'like ants.' 

Student Hannah Miles said: 'We began to run. A lot of my classmates were going every which way. We started to run to center of campus. And I turned around, and I saw students pouring out of the building.' 

Jessica Chandler was desperately seeking information about her 18-year-old daughter, Rebecka Carnes.

'I don't know where she is. I don't know if she's wounded,' Chandler said.

Carnes' best friend told Chandler that her daughter had been flown by helicopter to a hospital.

Army veteran Chris Mintz (pictured in the hospital, recovering) was shot five times as he charged at the Oregon college shooter, his cousin told DailyMail.com

Student Cassandra Welding called her mother, Lisa, when she saw her first classmate get shot

Umpqua Community College alumnus Donice Smith (L) is embraced after she said one of her former teachers was shot dead

Friends and family are reunited with students at local fairgrounds after the deadly shooting

Students, staff and faculty are evacuated from Umpqua Community College in Roseburg shortly after the shooting

A girl is comforted shortly after being evacuated from Umpqua Community College

Police were checking students' backpacks as a precaution before busing them off campus 

Bronte Hart, who lived in the apartment below Harper-Mercer and his mother said the young man 'seemed really unfriendly' and that he would often 'sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light.'

She also said that his mother was seen 'crying her eyes out' on Thursday. 

The shooter's stepsister was shocked by the news.

'I don't know what to say. I'm shaking right now,' said Carmen Nesnick in an interview with NBC Los Angeles. 

'He was a nice guy. He put everyone before himself. It doesn't sound right because he wanted everyone to be happy.'

She also said that she had not seen her stepbrother in a year, and that he was born in England before moving to the United States. 

Ian Harper, the father of the gunman who is divorced from the young man's mother, told CBS Los Angeles; 'I am just as shocked as anybody at what happened today.' 

The Los Angeles Times spoke to former neighbors of Harper-Mercer and his mother Laurel who described the pair as loners.

They also said that Harper-Mercer, who would often wear camouflage pants tucked into black boots, seems to carry around a black case with a gun inside and loved target shooting. 

Rosario Lucumi, 51, said that mother Laurel would frequently call her son 'baby' despite the fact that he was an adult, and would get involved in disputes over loud noises and at one point a cockroach infestation she said was keeping her son awake at night.

Lucimi's daughter, Rosario Espinoza, said the young man always appeared 'anxious' and 'nervous.'

'He was a little odd, like sensitive to things,' said Rebecca Miles, who took a theater class with Mercer, while another neighbor, Steven Fisher, described him as 'skittish'.

'His demeanor, the way he moved, always looking around,' Fisher said. 'I got a bad vibe from him.'

None of the victims have been identified so far.  

Shortly after the mass shooting, President Obama addressed the nation demanding stronger gun laws, saying that the country has become 'numb' to these events. 

He also asked that the public look at the number of Americans killed by guns over the past ten years compared to the number killed by terrorist acts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 153,144 people were killed by homicide in which firearms were used between 2001 and 2013, the last year that data are available reports NBC News.

The Global Terrorism Database - which uses a criteria to determine terrorist attacks but also includes acts of violence that are more ambiguous in goal - estimates that 3,046 people in the U.S. died in terrorist or possible terrorist attacks between 2001 and 2014. 

The Oregon sheriff dealing with the shooting is a known gun rights activist. In January 2013 after the Sandy Hook shooting he wrote to Vice President Joe Biden in opposition to further gun control, the New York Daily News reported. 

Limiting gun access was 'not the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings', he wrote, imploring the White House not to 'tamper with or amend' the second amendment. 

He is refusing to publicly address Harper-Mercer by name saying it only gives him the notoriety he craves. 

The school has a policy of no guns on campus and did not feel the need for an armed security presence, Umpqua Community College interim President Rita Cavin said.

'This is an anomaly and a tragedy,' she said of the shooting.

FBI INVESTIGATING IF THE OREGON SHOOTER WARNED OF MASSACRE ONLINE HOURS BEFORE HE MURDERED 10

The FBI is today investigating whether a warning message on an online forum was posted by the shooter hours before he murdered 10 students at an Oregon college.

Officers are probing whether Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, wrote the anonymous message on bulletin board 4chan: 'Don't go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest.'

It was written at 1.19am yesterday morning and the first shots were fired at Umpqua Community College at 10.38am.

MailOnline has been unable to verify the authenticity of the message, although police are said to be treating it seriously because 4chan has been used my school shooters in the past. 

In 2013, 18-year-old student Neil Allan Macinnis shot dead two women at a Virginia college - before the killing he posted on 4chan asking users to 'wish him luck.' 

Scroll down for video 

A sinister warning message purportedly from the shooter who opened fire at an Oregon college allegedly appeared on an internet forum last night.  Dailymail.com can not verify the authenticity of the message and has contacted 4chan for a response

History: In 2013, 18-year-old student Neil Allan Macinnis (pictured) shot dead two women at a Virginia college - before the killing he posted on 4chan asking users to 'wish him luck'

The message, which is time stamped 19:19 p.m, continued: 'happening thread will be posted tomorrow morning. so long space robots.'

'Will post again in am, 10 min countdown. Won't say more to much to prepare.'

The alleged post is no longer visible on the website - the cached version was first posted on Reddit.  

Under the disturbing message, many users encouraged the person to go ahead with their threat and even advised the poster on the best ways to kill people.

One user wrote: 'I suggest you enter a classroom and tell people that you will take them as hostages. Make everyone get in one corner and then open fire.

Students, teachers and members of the community gathered to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting

People wait for information at the local fairgrounds where students from Umpqua Community College were taken

People gather at a road block near the entrance to Umpqua Community College, in Roseburg, Oregon Thursday following a deadly shooting

Multiple ambulances are pictured on the scene with at least one patient on a gurney at the Roseburg campus 

Out in full force: Heavily armed police officers walk on the UCC campus Thursday after the shooting 

Security sweep: Authorities move from building to building to secure the campus

A bullet casing is marked at the scene of the massacre in Roseburg, Oregon, where 

Police described how they exchanged fire with the gunman who went on the rampage at the Umpqua Community College in dramatic 911 dispatcher recordings.

The officers described how they shot at the attacker as he was standing next to a library as 35 people were ‘piled in the hall’ in fear of their lives.

The recordings capture the moment the gunman is shot dead when an officer says: ‘The suspect is down’.

The dispatcher describes the incident as a ‘major trauma’ and asks for all available ambulances to be sent to the scene.

The recordings were made by emergency services in Roseburg, Oregon and made public by Broadcastify.

They show that police in the rural town try to keep their calm as the full scale of the horror becomes apparent.

According to Douglas County Police, the incident began in Snyder Hall, a large lecture theater used by the science department.

In the recordings officer says: ‘Exchanging shots with him. He’s in a classroom on the, it’s gonna be the South East side of the hall.

The dispatcher says: ‘Gunshots with the male in the classroom on the South East side of Synder Hall’.

The officer says: ‘Unconfirmed report he’s got a long gun.’

The dispatcher says: ‘He’s next to the library, there’s about 35 people in the hall piled in on lockdown’.

Sirens blare in the background and after a pause another officer says: ‘The suspect is down’.

The dispatcher confirms and says: ‘Code 4, suspect is down’.

After a few minutes another officer says: ‘The suspect is down, we’ve got multiple gunshot wounds, we’re going to need multiple ambulances on scene’

The dispatcher confirms that numerous ambulances are on the way.

An officer tells the dispatchers: ‘I need all traffic to pause unless emergency. Please dispatch as many ambulances as possible to this incident, we have upwards of 20 victims.’

The officer says: ‘Upwards of 20 victims, approximately 15 are deceased.’

The dispatcher says: ‘Notify emergency of major trauma, upwards of 15 deceased.’

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin addresses the media following the deadly shooting, confirming the gunman's death

Bittersweet reunion: Friends and family cried and embraced after reuniting at the Douglas County Fairground 

Emotions were running high following the shooting as family members awaited news 

People hold signs for free rides as friends and family wait for students at the local fairgrounds

The Umpqua Community College shooter appears to have targeted the science building because it is a large lecture hall and would have allowed him to cause mass casualties.

A Douglas County fire official told CNN when he arrived on the scene, they found 'multiple patients in multiple classrooms.' 

Students from UCC were eventually evacuated to the Douglas County Fairground for a debriefing.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the Oregon shooting rampage by homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and will receive updates throughout the day, according to a White House official 

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest addressed the shooting during Thursday's daily briefing, saying Obama is committed to passing tougher gun control laws. 

'The issue of sensible steps that can be taken to protect our communities from gun violence continues to be a top priority of this administration,' Earnest told reporters. 

'The president has been quite candid about how this is and has been a source of frustration for him.'

Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, who represents Roseburg, said in a statement that his thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. He also expressed gratitude for the first responders.

DeFazio says once he knows more about what happened, he plans to work with his colleagues in Congress to find ways to prevent such tragedies.

The two-year college, located 180 miles south of Portland, has more than 4,000 students, more than half of them female. The average age of students enrolled in UCC is 38. 

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a pro-gun control group, the incident in Oregon is the 45th shooting at a school so far this year. 

Counselors are being made available for UCC students, staff and their families, pictured here, if they were affected in any way by the disaster

Heartbroken: Classmates gathered to comfort each other after the shooting in Roseburg

Remote: The rural college is located 180 miles south of Portland, Oregon, where the gunman lived with his mother

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