Posted on 10/04/2015 3:26:21 AM PDT by tired&retired
A darker picture emerged Friday of slain Umpqua Community College shooter Chris Harper-Mercer as a deeply troubled, anti-religion, anti-government recluse obsessed with guns.
The U.S. Army discharged him just five weeks into basic training in 2008. Records indicate he graduated in 2009 from a high school catering to troubled and special-needs students. Multiple media sources reported Friday he left behind an angry note that is now in the hands of investigators.
The Los Angeles Times said Harper-Mercer's note was several pages long and talked about his anger and depression.
Sofia Camarena of Long Beach, California, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she used to date Harper-Mercer's father."I used to change Chris' diapers when he was a baby," she said, upset after learning that he was the shooter in Thursday's massacre and was himself dead. "He was born with problems. He was hard to discipline. If you told him 'no,' he would scream like you had just hit him."
Camarena said that she had heard Harper-Mercer's mother was having "a hard time" with him and that he attended a special school.
Camarena said she last saw Harper-Mercer when he was 18 and she had asked him how he was doing. "He said he was doing good," said Camarena, whose son went on to marry Harper-Mercer's step-sister.
There are a number of indications that Harper-Mercer had mental health or behavioral issues. His screen name on some social media sites was "lithium love." Lithium is used as a psychiatric medication.
The U.S. Army confirmed Friday it discharged Harper-Mercer just halfway through his 10 weeks of basic training in 2008. "A review of Army records indicate that Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer was in service at Ft. Jackson, S.C., from 5 November-11 December 2008 but discharged for failing to meet the minimum administrative standards to serve in the U.S. Army," said Lt. Col. Ben Garrett.
Garrett declined to elaborate on what those "minimum administrative standards" were.
Amid the dysfunction, there were also hints of normalcy. Harper-Mercer found a home of sorts at the Umpqua Community College Theater Arts Department. He worked as a set designer for the department's spring musical. He took a theater class this summer, confirmed Dr. Rita Cavin, Umpqua Community College interim president, and was listed among the set crew for the department's fall production of Blithe Spirit.
Harper-Mercer was born in the United Kingdom, stepsister Carmen Nesnick told CBS Los Angeles, moving to the United States when he was very young. He grew up in the Torrance area. His parents, Ian Bernard Mercer and Laurel Margaret Harper, divorced in 2006.
People who knew Laurel Elizabeth Harper, 64, a certified nurse practitioner, said she and her son Chris were very close and spend a lot of time together. Laurel has been described as an overprotective mother who would frequently call her son ‘baby’ despite the fact that he was an adult, and would get involved in disputes over loud noises and at one point a cockroach infestation she said was keeping her son awake at night. Laurel Harper claimed she worked at the ABC family.
Chris Harper Mercer’s father Ian Mercer a Briton remarried after he and Laurel Harper got divorce in 2006 and were living with his second wife and Chris Harper Mercer’s step-siblings in Tarzana, California. Chris Mercer’s stepsister Carmen Nesnick said she last saw Chris Mercer a year ago, when asked about his behavior Nesnick said he was supportive and loving, not a religious guy but anti-religious either, she and her family are Christians.
He’s BLACK and that is never mentioned!!!
Don’t print his name.....or he wins.
Oh, “black’s” not mentioned, UNLESS it’s used in order
to get Hussein elected Prezzy.
Back in the 60’s I supplemented my expenses while in college by working in a state mental hospital. It looked and was run very similarly to the bug house in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. We kept locked up, psychotic individuals. In the early seventies the left insisted these people be let go as they have a right to be on the streets every bit as much as you or I.
Violent crazy people have been running rampant ever since.
...and those are just the ones serving in elective office.
It is odd how this whole incident isn’t mentioned on the boob tube much the last couple days.
Do we even know who the victims are other than the Mintz guy?
Prepare for battle and mobilize when necessary!
To hell with the murderer, personally I don't give a rats a$$ abut him, but I do care about my fellow Americans and their Constitutional rights!
This is one of the reasons the prisons have been at capacity.
A very high percentage of inmates are mentally ill and were identified as such prior to committing the act that led to them being incarcerated.
No offense intended here. I can understand your’s and other’s sentiments on mentioning the name of the perpetrator, but to me that thinking is really the same kind of politically correct control behavior about which we complain here very frequently. It usually regards “correct speech or actions” associated with not stigmatizing some victim or other or just to place blame.
Mentioning his name or not won’t change a thing. The gun grabbers will still go on and the facts unpleasant to the liberal side will always be suppressed=. The victims will still be dead, and this man’s soul will still be roasting in hell.
He wins if he gets the attention in life or death. Nothing PC there I can detect.
I don’t know if he’s roasting in a fire or just worm food. Faith is a personal thing.
I think this guy ran around with a rat in his defective brain. He found away to kill it. Unfortunately he didn’t kill it before he killed all those innocent folks.
If we talk about this clinically (e.g., leaving out the faith as a personal thing) “He” doesn’t win anything as far as I can tell. He is dead. There may be (likely) others who “win” something based on their issues and motives, but not him.
Whether it is “politically” correct, or just some other form of behavior/think prompting, it’s still personal decision to make, IMO.
I completely agree with you about his brain, and what should have happened long before this.
I will not mention his name. But I will mention the name of the hero Chris Mintz. That’s how you do it, you cringing cowards. Fight to live! Fight!
The shooter in Connecticut had developmental disabilities as well. Why are the parents of these children & why are authorities allowing them to have guns? Seems like they need to be turned down in their background check.
https://www.texaspatx.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fdefault.aspx
But why so many in just the past 7 years? One might come to the conclusion it’s coordinated? Next thing you know they’ll be shipping guns down Ol’ Mexico way to come back across the border for something no good.
The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 with de-institutionalization of the mentally ill resulted in the current problem. The lawyers and politicians have made it virtually impossible to prevent a dangerous individual from harming himself or harming others without imprisoning him.
All of the mass killers in the news have been bat**** crazy and it was fairly obvious to everyone who came into contact with them. Most of the killers even look crazy!
So he was gay?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.