Posted on 10/01/2015 9:49:14 PM PDT by Red Steel
Chris Harper-Mercer, the man accused of opening fire at a rural Oregon community college Thursday, formerly lived in the South Bay and attended a school for teens with emotional disabilities.
Records show Harper-Mercer, 20, lived in a ground-floor apartment on Arlington Avenue at 230th Street in Torrance with his mother, Laurel Harper, from 2011 to 2013. The owner of the building said he did not know them and neighbors did not recall them.
But current residents, greeted by reporters knocking at their doors late Thursday, were shocked to learn that the man suspected of committing the nation’s latest mass shooting had lived in their building.
“It’s extremely surreal,” said resident Shannon Medrano. “I don’t remember him. If I could see a picture of his mom, maybe it could jog some memory. I wonder what his experience was like here. This is not a big building. I’m sure we crossed paths at some point.”
Lists of South Bay graduates from 2009 published in the Daily Breeze showed Harper-Mercer graduated from the Switzer Learning Center in Torrance with four other students. Switzer teaches students with learning disabilities and emotional issues.
A former behavioral aide at Switzer, who did not want her name used, said the majority of the students at the school are from foster, low-income and single-parent homes. Some of these students were expelled from other schools or had been in trouble with the law.
The school is divided among special needs students and those with behavioral problems.
Records showed Harper-Mercer and his mother moved to Winchester, Ore., in 2013. In addition to Torrance, Harper showed previous addresses in Lomita, Harbor Gateway and Lomita.
CBS News reported that Harper-Mercer’s stepsister said he was born in England and moved to the United States as a young boy. Harper-Mercer’s father, who lives in Tarzana, married her mother, and the stepsister said the last time she spoke with Harper-Mercer was a year ago.
In Torrance, Medrano said it was shocking to learn Harper-Mercer reportedly shot his victims after asking them if they were Christian.
“I wonder what happened in his life that brought him to that point,” Medrano said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
On a profile that appeared to belong to Harper-Mercer on the Spiritual Passions dating website, where he listed himself as Ironcross45, Harper-Mercer said he was “looking for someone who shares my beliefs, and is similar to me.”
He described himself as a straight college student, a “teetotaller,” a conservative Republican and into punk industrial rock music. He described his interests and hobbies as “Internet, killing zombies, movies, music, reading.”
“Socially, I am shy at first, but warm up quickly, better in small groups,” he wrote. “I’m looking for romance, soulmate, conversation ... the yin to my yang, dating, penpal, friends only, relationship, miss right.”
He described himself as “not religious” and listed his groups as “Doesn’t Like Organized Religion,’ “Left-hnd path,” “Magick and Occult,” and “Not Religious but Spiritual.”
Witnesses said the shooter at Umpqua Community College near Roseburg, Ore., asked his victims whether they were Christians. Those who said there were reportedly were shot in the head, while others were shot in the legs. At least 10 people were killed.
How’s your relative doing now? Did he/she ever get any better, achieve any kind of balance?
Yeah, that seems about right. This one doesn’t look crazy like Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooter), he looks like a regular dumbass punk kid.
Yeah. They should have the same chance at gun-free zones that non-medicated folks do. ( /sarc )
Excellent find, now there is something to combat the BS with, I’ve already seen so many postings claiming he was conservative, common sense and historical data confirms conservatives do not do crap like this, even conservatives who are on prescription drugs, illegal drugs, mentally ill, or otherwise batshit crazy don’t do things like this.
***
Who knows. You can easily acquire a gun illegally. No amount of gun control will deter the illegal sale and acquisition of firearms. Look at the shootings in Chicago every weekend. Chicago has strict gun laws. Do you think the shooters go 8through background checks?
The other thing, the media seems to take what he supposedly said online in profiles etc as the truth.
Forget Oregon’s Gunman. Remember the Hero Who Charged Straight at Him.Worth Repeating:
“I will not give him the credit he probably sought,” Hanlin said of the killer. “You will never hear me use his name.”The coroner will be obliged to issue an official identification, and news organizations will be obliged to report it.
But if you hear it, forget that Chris in that very instant.
Think of Chris Mintz, who was shot while rushing a killer on his son’s sixth birthday.
Forget the zero and remember the hero.
Also remember those two brave cops and the others who showed uncommon courage.
Does Obama plan on inviting him to the White House? /s
“Switzer teaches students with learning disabilities and emotional issues.”.........
Obviously Mercer met the requirements.
When will this nation wake up and deal with the mentally handicapped?
“Does Obama plan on inviting him to the White House?”......
Don’t hold your breath.
PHSCHO taking DRUGS!!
We shut down the mental health facilities, and let them lose in the general public.
Iron Cross was the highest order medal in the old Prussian/Kaiser Reich/Nazi army
1945 is when Hitler gave himself a 9mm brain hemorrhage.
ISLAMITIZED via the internet?
Agreed. I bet there’s more transgender people in the United States than Conservative Republican Satanists who believe in witchcraft.
I thought he was stating he was left handed.
Follow the history of the word Left and you will find that it’s meaning is ‘sinister’.
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