The gunman behind the latest mass shooting in the US had hoarded an arsenal of weapons and was enrolled in the class where the fatal shootings occurred, authorities have said.
The names of the nine people, five women and four men, aged between 18 and 67, who died on Thursday’s shooting at Umpqua Community College were released on Friday, Al Jazeera reports.
Though officials have yet to formally name him, the gunman, who died in a shoot-out with police, has been widely identified as Chris Harper Mercer, 26.
Officials said they had recovered 13 weapons belonging to him, including six at the school and seven at the apartment he shared with his mother.
A flak jacket and five rounds of ammunition were also recovered at the school after the shooting.
US media said Mercer left behind a typed statement several pages long in which he indicated he felt lonely and was inspired by previous mass killings.
Seven other people were wounded in the attack in Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland.
Mercer’s weapons had been purchased legally over the past three years, some by him, others by relatives, said Celinez Nunez, assistant field agent for the Seattle division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Oregon’s top federal prosecutor said Mercer used a handgun when he opened fire on classmates and stashed a rifle in another room but did not fire it.
