Current Events –
Oregon Shooting Is The ‘New Normal’
Here we go again. There was another deadly college shooting on Thursday. This time, the massacre occurred on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. This time, the shooter was targeting Christians. Is this Oregon shooting the new normal?
Current Events
The deadly execution-style Oregon shooting has rocked the town of Roseburg, which is about 180 miles from Portland. It has also renewed the debate of gun control and the need to take on the NRA to protect against far too many shootings like this in America. It’s probably wishful thinking, but since the shooter specifically targeted Christians, perhaps the Christian-right might break ranks with the NRA and insist it’s finally time for a change.
According to eyewitness Anastasia Boylan, who required spinal surgery after being shot, the shooter entered her classroom and shot and killed the professor at point-blank range. He then ordered any students who were Christian to stand.
“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,'” Boylan said.
“And then he shot and killed them.”
In all, 10 people were killed and 7 others were injured, forcing the nation to face yet another mass shooting. A quick response by law enforcement is credited for keeping the death toll from climbing higher.
The gunman has been identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, who was shot and killed on the scene in a firefight with police. Mercer had body armor with him and was heavily armed, carrying a large amount of ammunition for a prolonged gunfight.
“I will not name the shooter,”Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said. “I will not give him the credit he probably sought.”
The Oregon shooting was reported just before 10:40am Pacific time. Students recalled the moment when all hell broke loose.
“There’s a shooter! Run! Run! Get out of there!” groups of students screamed as they ran out of Snyder Hall, where the rampage began. According to 25-year-old student Kenneth Ungerman, he and a National Guard recruiter sought cover underneath his Jeep, then rolled out from under it “and took off,” he said.
Cassandra Welding was in class when the shooting started.
“I heard a popping noise, almost like a balloon popping,” she recalled. “I knew something wasn’t right and so I get down.”
She said all of the students in her classroom dropped to the ground, then huddled together behind backpacks and chairs, underneath tables.
“We locked the doors, turned off the lights, and we were all pretty much in panic mode,” Welding said. “We called 911 and called our parents, our loved ones … We didn’t know what was going to happen, if those were our last words or not.”
Current Events
Jasmyne Davis, 19, was also in a class when the gunfire began. She said she heard one gunshot, followed by a 30-second pause, an argument and 8 more shots from the classroom next door. “Close the door!” yelled a female classmate who ran out of the classroom, but was shot in the arm and fell back into the room.
President Obama was visibly distressed when he addressed the nation on the Oregon shooting.
“Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this,” Mr. Obama said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough,” he continued. “It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel, and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America — next week, or a couple months from now.”
“There’s no developed country on earth that would put up with this,” the president continued. And it happens now once a week. We should be ashamed!”
“Today is heartbreaking for Umpqua Community College, the greater Roseburg community, and all of Oregon,” Gov. Kate Brown said as she ordered flags flown at half-staff through sunset Friday.
The interim leader of Umpqua Community College called Thursday “the saddest day in the history of the college.”
Interestingly, the Oregon shooting was just 1 of dozens of school shootings since the deadly Sandy Hook massacre. Is this now the new normal? When will it stop?!?
Today i will refrain from going off on the so-called "Christian right." Instead I will say….given ALL that we have witnessed of that group over the years, I highly doubt the majority of them will break with the NRA, even in the face of YET another mass shooting in a predominantly White community. And let me be clear…because this never-ending nightmare continues to sicken me to the depth of my being. It is one thing for the majority of White America to NOT give d*mn about the deadly gun violence within so many inner-city communties of Color – the wholesale slaughter of innocent (predominantly) Black men, women and children, gunned down by Black sociopaths who terrorize those communities daily. But the sad truth is (and to my utter dismay) the majority of White Americans, it seems, do NOT even care about protecting their OWN lives..or the lives of THEIR own… Read more »