If you’re a little behind the eight-ball on this one then let’s get you up to speed. Chris Harper Mercer is the cretin behind the latest American mass shooting, 10 people killed during a shooting spree at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

Now as is the usual when these things happen everyone clamours to find out everything they can about the shooter, now dead after exchanging gunfire with police. What is unusual about this one is that Chris may actually have posted his intentions to 4Chan the night before, this screenshot from a thread Wednesday evening.

You might want to chillax and not alert police? Wow, not the kind of response you would expect. Then these, now removed but reported on Heavy:

One person responded saying, “I suggest you enter a classroom and tell people that you will take them as hostages. Make everyone get in one corner and then open fire. Make sure that there is no way that someone can disarm you as it it possible. I suggest you carry a knife on your belt as last resort if someone is holding your gun.”

Another poster said, “You might want to target a girls school which is safer because there are no beta males throwing themselves for their rescue. Do not use a shotgun. I would suggest a powerful assault rifle and a pistol or 2x pistols. Possibly the type of pistols who have 15+ ammo.”

Wow, that’s not really the kind of reaction one expects. Of course those soon followed:

And then these, post-attack, when the reality sunk in that he had followed through on his threats:

So what do we know about Chris, other than the fact that he was an attention-seeking and very twisted individual? These five points below from Heavy:

1. Police said in radio transmissions that the gunman was inside a classroom in Snyder Hall when they arrived at about 10:40 a.m. The gunman, Chris Harper Mercer, exchanged fire with police, according to the officers on the scene. The sheriff said at least two “heroic” officers responded to the scene within minutes and exchanged fire with Harper Mercer…The first 911 calls reported an active shooting with one victim. Police said they found multiple people dead and wounded when they arrived. The gunman was reported to be down about 9 minutes after the shooting was first reported to police.
2. Witnesses said the gunman told the students in a classroom to stand up and state their religion before he began firing away, the News-Review, a local newspaper, reports.Kortney Moore, an 18-year-old student, told the newspaper that she was in her writing class in Snyder Hall when a shot came through a window. She said she saw her teacher get shot in the head and the gunman entered the room, telling people to get on the ground. Moore said he then told people to stand up and state their religion, before firing away. She was lying on the ground with people who were shot.
3. On his dating profile on the website Spiritual Passions, Chris Harper Mercer says that he “doesn’t like organized religion”…He writes that he is, “Not Religious, Not Religious, but Spiritual.” And says, under personality that he is, a “lover, conservative, professional, intellectual, introvert.” He also says under interests, “internet, killing zombies, movies, music, reading.”Harper Mercer says he is “mixed race,” doesn’t drink and is a “conservative, Republican.”

4. Here’s his last blog posting, all about Vester Flanagan…

5. Before the actual name of the shooter was released, a different name, Toby Reynolds, also known as Egg Man, spread on social media and some websites as the shooter.

He called NBC News and told them he was alive and not the shooter.

YouTube videos he posted spread quickly across the internet.

Once again Barack Obama was forced to stand up and apologise to the nation for their lax gun control laws, and once again he implored Democrats and Republicans to band together and enact laws that will make occurrences like this fewer and farther between.

Sadly, one feels, his words will once again fall on deaf ears and it won’t be long before we write until the next attention-seeking mass murderer.

[sources:heavy&heavy]