Oregon who delivered a package to police says the shooter shot at people on the ground

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Mathew Downing spoke out on Friday for the first time since he was spared during the Oregon shooting
'Hey kid with the glasses, you are the lucky one. I will not shoot you if you give this to the cops,' Christopher Harper-Mercer told him
Downing stood up and he thought he'd die when the shooter pointed a gun at him
Harper-Mercer even shot at people who were already wounded and lying on the ground

By Associated Press and Alexandra Klausner For Dailymail.com

Published: 00:15 EST, 10 October 2015 | Updated: 00:48 EST, 10 October 2015

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The 18-year-old college student singled out by the shooter as the 'lucky one' to survive and deliver a package to law enforcement spoke for the first time on Friday about the massacre in Roseburg, Oregon.

In a written statement that was the most detailed account thus far of the Oct. 1 shooting, Mathew Downing said that when Christopher Harper-Mercer entered the Umpqua Community College classroom, Downing's ears were ringing from shots already fired, and he thought what was happening 'couldn't be real.'

He said the first thing the shooter did was put his backpack on the front desk and pull out an envelope, saying: 'There is a flash drive in this and whoever survives this should give it to the police.'

Matthew Downing (right), pictured with his mother last week spoke out on Friday following his beeing deemed the 'lucky one' to survive the oregon shooting to give a package to police

The gunman: Mathew Downing said that when Christopher Harper-Mercer (pictrured) entered the Umpqua Community College classroom, Downing's ears were ringing from shots already fired, and he thought what was happening 'couldn't be real'

MATHEW DOWNING'S STATEMENT

Thursday started out as any other day would've. I got to school on time, sat down and pulled out the paper to turn it.

It was about 30 or 40 minutes into the class when I heard a couple of shots fired, I couldn't hear anything when he had walked in because my ears where ringing so badly.

When I saw the gun when he walked in the first thought in my head was that this couldn't be real. The first thing I could hear was him telling everybody to get onto the ground, I listened and figured that if I did so throughout I wouldn't be harmed. He then told everybody to get into the center of the room and be quiet. He then put his backpack on the front desk and pulled out an envelope and said that there is a flash drive in this and whoever survives this should give it to the police.

He looked directly at me and said hey kid with the glasses you are the lucky one, I will not shoot you if you give this to the cops. I stood up and he pointed the gun at me and this is the moment I thought I was going to die. He paused for a second and then handed the envelope to me and said to sit in the very back seat and face him. I then did so as he fired a couple of shots into the crowd of students in the center.

The shooter then asked one of the other students to stand up and when he did asked him if he was religious. The student said he was Christian and was shot. He then had another student stand up and asked him the same, when he answered Catholic the shooter then asked if he believed in the afterlife. The student said I don't know and the shooter thanked him for standing up for his beliefs and shot him.

One of the girls that was lying near the front of the class then said that she was sorry for whatever happened to him and for whatever she had done wrong. The shooter then said that he bets she was and shot her. At that point he was just firing on people who were just lying there and stopped when he heard a woman outside and shot out the window by the door. That is when he looked out the door and saw a man standing outside. The man asked him not to shoot him because it's his son's birthday.

The shooter then fired multiple shots out of the door and shut it. When he looked back in he looked at everybody and said that he was glad there where some people alive. The shooter then asked a student in the back of the class if she would stand up and she said that her legs wouldn't move because she was in too much pain.

He seemed to have lost interest and pointed his gun to another student in the back and told her to stand up, she got scared and picked up a desk to defend herself and he shot through it anyway and hit her in the leg. At that point the police had shown up and where yelling from outside which alerted the shooter and he looked outside then fired some shots. As he was doing this he was reloading his two handguns with ammunition in his backpack. He never left the class but only leaned about half of his torso out of the classroom to fire on the police. The shooter leaned out of the classroom about two times and was shot by one of the officers then retreated into the class. When this happened, he laid down on the ground and shot himself in the head.

This is my recollection, my story of the events that unfolded Thursday in the Snyder building of UCC. The reason I have for writing this statement is for me to get my story out in a way that I feel comfortable. The final thing I want to add is that I and everybody else should get from this is that any day could be your last. You don't want anybody's last memory of you to be a bad one so everybody needs to take it upon themselves to just be a lot nicer to people.

Downing's account of what came next coincides with relatives of survivors who previously reported that Harper-Mercer looked at Downing and said, 'Hey kid with the glasses, you are the lucky one. I will not shoot you if you give this to the cops.'

Downing said he stood up then, and the shooter pointed a gun at him. 'This is the moment I thought I was going to die,' Downing said.

Instead, the shooter paused for a moment, Downing said, and handed him the envelope. Next, the shooter told Downing to sit in the very back seat and face him.

Downing did so and said at that point Harper-Mercer fired into the center of the room and began asking students one by one if they were religious.

The shooter fired at one student who said he was Christian and another who said she was Catholic.

'The student said he was Christian and was shot. He then had another student stand up and asked him the same, when he answered Catholic the shooter then asked if he believed in the afterlife. The student said I don't know and the shooter thanked him for standing up for his beliefs and shot him,' Downing said in the statement.

He says that another student apologized for whatever she or others did wrong to offend the shooter before she was also shot.

Embracy: Randy Scroggins, the pastor at New Beginnings Church of God (right), embraced Downing during services last weekend

'One of the girls that was lying near the front of the class then said that she was sorry for whatever happened to him and for whatever she had done wrong. The shooter then said that he bets she was and shot her,' said Downing.

Downing says that a man standing outside of a doorway asked Harper-Mercer to spare his life because it was his son's birthday.

'The shooter then fired multiple shots out of the door and shut it. When he looked back in he looked at everybody and said that he was glad there where some people alive,' said Downing.

The shooter reloaded two handguns with ammunition from his backpack during the incident, Downing said. Harper-Mercer was 'firing on people who were just lying there,' Downing said.

Downing also said the shooter seemed to lose interest when a woman told him she couldn't move her legs to stand up because of the pain.

He turned to another woman, telling her to stand, and she picked up a desk to defend herself, Downing said. Harper-Mercer fired at her anyway, hitting her in the leg.

When the shooter noticed police, he leaned out a window and fired at them. Downing also wrote that after Harper-Mercer was hit by police gunfire, he laid down on the floor and shot himself in the head.

Harper-Mercer killed nine people and wounded seven others.

Downing said he wanted to speak out because he wants people to know, ' any day could be your last.'

'You don't want anybody's last memory of you to be a bad one so everybody needs to take it upon themselves to just be a lot nicer to people,' he said.