Reports are emerging that the shooter at Umpqua Community College yesterday, Chris Harper Mercer, was a loner with white supremacist leanings. He also reportedly asked the religion of the victims before he executed them, causing the mass shooting to be investigated as a hate crime. Mercer, who accumulated 13 guns, of which 6 were brought to the campus, was obsessed with guns according to reports.
In today's press conference, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said he wouldn't name the shooter because he said that it would lend undeserved fame to him. But it appears the shooter had more in common with the sheriff than the sheriff wants to acknowledge. Hanlin posted a video on his Facebook page in 2013 that claimed the Sandy Hook massacre was staged to usher in more stringent gun controls. Also, in a letter to Vice President Biden shortly after he posted the despicable video, Hanlin said,
"Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings. Any actions against, or in disregard for our U.S. Constitution and 2nd Amendment rights by the current administration would be irresponsible and an indisputable insult to the American people."Small wonder that the sheriff didn't want the media to name the shooter or, presumably, dig into his background: that would hit too close to home.
BONUS: Meanwhile, let's praise veteran Chris Mintz, who was shot seven times while trying to stop the shooter, and survived.
