CBS News: Investigators Say Umpqua Gunman Had White Supremacist Literature

October 2, 2015 7:29 AM

ROSEBURG, Ore. (CBS News/CBS Seattle/AP) — A neighbor of the man who went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Oregon college, killing nine people, said he “seemed really unfriendly.” Bronte Hart lived below 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer in the community of Winchester. She said Mercer would “sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light.”

Hart said a woman she believed to be Mercer’s mother also lived upstairs and was “crying her eyes out” Thursday night. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News Mercer was the man who opened fire at Umpqua Community College, killing nine people and wounding seven others. He died after exchanging gunfire with responding officers.

Law enforcement sources also told CBS News four guns — a combination of pistols and a rifle — were found at the scene of the shooting.

CBS Los Angeles reported Mercer had ties to the Los Angeles-area communities of Torrance and Tarzana. Mercer’s stepsister told the station he was born in England and traveled to the United States as a young boy. She said Mercer’s father, who lives in Tarzana, married her mom and that the last time she spoke with Mercer was a year ago.

In Torrance, neighbors told CBS Los Angeles that Mercer lived there a few years ago and kept mostly to himself. Posts on an online blog that appears to belong to Mercer reference multiple shootings, including one in Virginia in August that left a television news reporter and cameraman dead. The last upload on the blog was Wednesday. when a documentary about the Newtown shooting was posted.

In one post on the blog about Vester Flanagan, the man who killed WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward in Virginia on live television, Mercer apparently wrote, “I have noticed that so many people like [Flanagan] are 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. 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 like the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”

An online dating profile that appears to belong to Mercer lists his hobbies and interests as “Internet, killing zombies, movies, music, reading.” Under ethnicity, it says “mixed race” and his relationship status says “single — never married.” The profile also says he is currently in college and lives with his parents, is a Republican and not religious. It also says he doesn’t smoke, drink or do drugs. One of the groups on the site that he belongs to is called “Doesn’t Like Organized Religion.”

CBS News reports investigators found white supremacist literature and that Mercer’s social media accounts glorified the Irish Republican Army. A witness to the shooting, Kortney Moore, told the Roseburg News-Review newspaper that she was in a writing class when a shot came through a window. She said the gunman entered her classroom, told people to get on the ground and then asked people to stand up and state their religion before opening fire.

Hundreds went to a candlelight vigil with many raising candles as the hymn “Amazing Grace” was played. Sam Sherman, a former student, said the school helped broaden his opportunities. “That’s all I could think about today. There’s 10, 9 kids who won’t get those doors opened,” he said. (TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Story URL: http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2015/10/02/chris-harper-mercer-white-supremacist-literature/

1. LA Times: Gun-obsessed, timid and his mom called him 'baby': What we know of Chris Harper-Mercer's life

Story URL: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-chris-harper-mercer-oregon-shooting-20151002-htmlstory.html

Yesterdays Links: Chris Harper Mercer Was a White Supremacist

by LA Times, October 15th, 2015 (Muskal reported from Los Angeles, Gerber and Los Angeles Times staff writer Matt Pearce from Oregon, and Serrano from Washington.)

"Chris Harper-Mercer has been identified by law enforcement officials as the gunman who opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. Here's what we know about him:

He was from Southern California:

"Harper-Mercer, 26, was a resident of Winchester, Ore., according to the Douglas County Medical Examiner, but he and his mother, a nurse, had moved there from Torrance, Calif. His father, Ian Mercer, lives in Tarzana...he attended El Camino College from 2010 to 2012, according to Ann Garten, a spokesman for the community college. He was not involved in any incidents during his time there, she said. It is unclear whether he earned a degree.

He had white-supremacy leanings and was obsessed with guns, according to one official.

Officials have said the gunman's motive was not clear. Two federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said, though, that authorities had obtained some of Harper-Mercer's writings, as well as a note he left behind, suggesting that he opposed organized religion and supported white-supremacist causes. However, he identified as mixed-race on a dating website and lived with his black mother. He also liked to discuss military history, according to an official.

In 2011, he signed up on the website Mashable, using a Facebook account that has been taken down. According to Mashable, his Facebook profile included "a reference to Nazi Germany" and had a quotation: "When all the pleasures of the world have diluted, the only thing left that is pure is power."

Six weapons were recovered from the scene of the shooting, officials said at a news conference Friday, and eight guns were found at Harper-Mercer's apartment. All 14 weapons were legally purchased, they added.

A former neighbor in Torrance, David Westly, 45, recalled that Harper-Mercer was once asked at a community barbecue whether he owned any guns. He deflected the question but acknowledged that he liked to practice target shooting, Westly said.

He joined the Army, but left after a month

A review of Army records indicates that Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer was in the service at Ft. Jackson, S.C., from Nov. 5 to Dec. 11, 2008. He flunked basic training and was discharged for failing to meet the "minimum administrative standards to serve."

A law enforcement source said investigators have learned Mercer had long struggled with mental health issues, beginning when he was a teenager.

He was among five students listed in the graduating class at Switzer Learning Center, according to a special graduation section published by the Torrance-based newspaper, the Daily Breeze, in 2009. The Switzer Learning Center, also in Torrance, teaches students with special needs, emotional difficulties, autism and Asperger's syndrome.

According to its website, the school "has a long history of working with children who have been unsuccessful in traditional classrooms."

In online postings, Harper-Mercer's mother said her son had Asperger's syndrome, which can severely limit social development and spark emotional meltdowns, but was not associated with predatory behavior."

Report: Oregon Shooter Had White Supremacist Leanings

Catherine Thompson,October 2, 2015, 12:57 PM EDT 22504 views

"The 26-year-old gunman who massacred at least nine people Thursday at Oregon's Umpqua Community College reportedly had white supremacist leanings.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday, based on information from an anonymous federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, that the shooter was obsessed with guns and religion and had white supremacist leanings.

Douglas County, Oregon Sheriff John Hanlin said Thursday that he would not glorify the gunman by releasing his name and urged the media to follow his example. But the Times and other news outlets, including The Associated Press, have identified the gunman as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer based on information from anonymous federal law enforcement sources and government officials.

The gunman also reportedly used an email address that invoked a symbol with connections to neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups. The Guardian found via a public records search that the email address " ironcross45@gmail.com" was associated with a Chris Harper Mercer of Winchester, Oregon. The Anti-Defamation League notes that those groups adopted the Iron Cross, a German military medal, as a hate symbol by superimposing a swastika on the traditional medal.

The username on an online dating profile that appears to belong to the gunman is also "ironcross45." Notably, that user lists his ethnicity as "mixed race."

Chris Harper-Mercer: Everything we know about the Oregon school gunman on Saturday

By Rob Crilly, New York and Tom Morgan

2:38PM BST 03 Oct 2015

"Shooter encouraged followers to watch grisly images online and posted that the "more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight.

Police in Oregon have identified the gunman who opened fire at a college on Thursday, killing 10 people, as Chris Harper-Mercer.

The 26-year-old, whose social media profiles featured content supporting the IRA, apparently demanded to know his victims' religious beliefs before opening fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.

He left behind a complex web of online identities which offer a possible insight into his personality - or at least a glimpse of the way he wanted to present himself to the world.

He maintained a myspace page, on which he posted a photograph of himself holding what appears to be a rifle, alongside images of masked IRA gunmen.

Obsession with Nazis

He offered the fullest description of himself on an online dating profile, saying he was "shy at first, but warm up quickly, better in small groups". He also said he was not religious but was "spiritual" and described his political views as conservative.

His username on the dating site Spiritual Passions was ironcross45 - a handle often used by far-Right sympathisers in reference to the German military symbol reintroduced by the Nazis.

He was also linked, via the username Lithium_Love, to a video upload site, where he also posted about Flanagan the former TV reporter who shot dead two former colleagues live on air.

"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," he wrote.

"A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. 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 encouraged his followers to watch the video made by Flanagan and posted on social media.

"It's a short video but good nonetheless," he wrote.

Read more at:

Chris Harper Mercer was a Conservative Republican:

"Umpqua Gunman Chris Harper Mercer Hated Religion Online"

by The Daily Beast,

The 26-year-old gunman showed a disdain for organized religion online, then allegedly asked victims about their faith before shooting them.

"Police have identified the gunman who killed 10 people at an Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday as Chris Harper Mercer.

A MySpace account belonging to Christopher Harper Mercer is registered to Torrance, California. Mercer and his mother previously lived in Torrance before moving to an apartment in Winchester, Oregon, which police later searched. An online dating profile, linked to Mercer's email address and featuring another photo of him, says the 26-year-old was living with his parents and searching for the "yin to my yang." It identifies his views as "conservative, republican" and lists "organized religion" as one of his "dislikes."

The 26-year-old gunman showed a disdain for organized religion online, then allegedly asked victims about their faith before shooting them."

Mixed race white supremacists do exist.

If he's like a mixed race Nazi asshole I confronted, he's probably acting out family problems through racial hate. Mercer's parents link to www.nytimes.com through a divorce. This would support what I'm saying.

I wrote an article about that neo-Nazi who is very similar to Chris Harper Mercer. He has almost identical interests and history as Mercer, which is pretty impressive considering how fucked up Mercer is. He went to school for emotionally disturbed children, is a Conservative, has an interest in the army and guns, is part black but supports white supremacy and hates Christians as well as blacks, women, and other minorities.

Here's the article about him: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2015/06/430058.shtml