GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN. Here's the latest from yesterday's Umpqua Community College massacre.

According to the O, yesterday's mass shooting at Umpqua Community College was committed by 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer, who killed nine people and then himself. More from the O:

The killer shot a teacher in the head at point-blank range, one witness told the Roseburg News Review newspaper, and ordered students to the floor. He demanded they tell him their religious affiliation, the witness said, but did not wait for answers before firing again.

Federal investigators, chasing rumors that the shooter had warned of his intentions on social media, were investigating the case as a possible hate crime.

More on Harper-Mercer here from the New York Times.

One of Harper-Mercer's shooting victims remains in critical condition, with 10 people total being admitted to the hospital (one of whom died).


In response to the tragedy, hundreds gather in Roseburg (and in Portland in front of city hall), to mourn the dead.

The Mercury's own Dirk Vanderhart is in Roseburg reporting for the New York Times as well as the Mercury—you can read what he's been working on here, here, and here.

Unsurprisingly, "a number of guns" were found in the killer's home according to Sheriff John Hanlin.

President Obama went on TV yesterday to respond to the Umpqua Community College murders, and gave one of the most impassioned speeches of his presidency. BUT WILL IT BE ENOUGH? Here's a selection, provided by The Guardian:

“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough,” he said. “It’s not enough.

“This is a political choice that we make, to allow this to happen every few months in America,” he said. “We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.

“When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we work to make mines safer. When Americans are killed in foods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto facilities; we have seatbelt laws because we know it saves lives.

“So the notion that gun violence is somehow different,” he said, visibly frustrated, “that our freedom and our constitution prohibits any modest regulation of how we use a deadly weapon – when there are law-abiding gun owners all across the country who could hunt, protect their families and do everything they do under those regulations – doesn’t make sense.”

And naturally, Donald Trump says something stupid.

Yesterday was also "You can now buy recreational weed" day, and 245 dispensaries statewide were given the go-ahead to sell legally. (Which meant no long lines!) We visited a bunch of places to gauge how things were going... check out our report here.

Remember how Pope Francis met with homophobe Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis? Well, now the Vatican is backpedaling as furiously as possible.

Now how about some WEATHER: Decreasing clouds and a high of 66 today lead to a sunny, pleasant weekend.

And finally, here's President Obama's speech about Umpqua and our nation's refusal to deal with gun control, in its entirety.