The alleged gunman who killed nine people and wounded nine others at a rural community college in Oregon last Thursday had been discharged from the Army after attempting to commit suicide, according to law-enforcement officials familiar with the case. 
 
 Christopher Harper-Mercer, who was 26 years old at the time of the shooting, was discharged from basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., after just one month in 2008. 
 
 The Army... ||||| Image copyright PA Image caption Chris Harper-Mercer posted a photograph of himself holding a gun online 
 
 Oregon college gunman Chris Harper Mercer has been described as an "uncommunicative" loner who was ejected from the US Army after less than a month of service. 
 
 Reportedly born in the UK, the 26-year-old lived with his mother a few miles away from Umpqua Community College, where he opened fire on Thursday morning, killing nine people before dying in a police shootout. 
 
 His father and stepsister were shocked by the shooting and a neighbour said his mother could be heard late on Thursday "crying her eyes out" in the family's apartment. 
 
 "All he ever did was put everyone before himself, he wanted everyone to be happy," said Carmen Nesnick, his stepsister. 
 
 But former neighbours in Oregon and California said Mercer hardly spoke and "seemed really unfriendly". 
 
 He enlisted in the Army in 2008, but he was discharged after spending less than a month in basic training, a US Army spokeswoman told the BBC. 
 
 She did not disclose why he was discharged, citing privacy rules. 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption A Myspace page bearing Mercer's name contained material about the IRA 
 
 Police think Mercer may have been a student at Umpqua because he was found with a receipt from the campus bookstore showing he had purchased textbooks. 
 
 Mercer is not believed to have a criminal history allowing him to legally own a large cache of weapons. He is shown posing with a rifle in a photograph posted online. 
 
 Police said he was wearing metal-plated body armour when he was killed. 
 
 It appeared that Mercer had posted information about himself on a MySpace page and an online dating profile. 
 
 His MySpace page contained pictures of masked gunmen, a picture of the front page of the Irish republican newspaper An Phoblacht carrying the headline "British Army Could Not Defeat IRA" and a photograph with the words "IRA undefeated army". 
 
 In a dating profile apparently belonging to Mercer on the Spiritual Passions website under the username Ironcross45, the non-smoking teetotaller described himself as "shy at first, but [I] warm up quickly, better in small groups". 
 
 He listed hobbies including the internet and "killing zombies", described his politics as "conservative, republican" and said he was spiritual but not religious. 
 
 Ms Nesnick said Mercer was born in the UK and moved to the US as a young boy. 
 
 Before moving to Oregon, Mercer and his mother lived for several years in a housing complex in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance. 
 
 Image copyright Other Image caption Mercer is said to have attended a school for pupils with emotional issues 
 
 One neighbour, David Westly, said Mercer had told him his mother went shooting at a range and added that he had seen Mercer and his mother leaving and returning to the apartment with what looked like gun cases. 
 
 A local newspaper in Torrance, the Daily Breeze, claimed that Mercer had attended a school for teenagers with behavioural problems. 
 
 The paper said its own published lists of graduating students showed Mercer attended a school called the Switzer Center, which specialises in teaching students with special needs and behavioural issues. ||||| ROSEBURG, Ore. The gunman who killed nine people at an Oregon college exchanged fire with two police officers, who struck him once before he retreated to a classroom and killed himself, authorities said on Wednesday as they hailed the officers as heroes. 
 
 Douglas County District Attorney Rick Wesenberg at a news conference said he found the two plainclothes officers were justified in opening fire on the gunman after he carried out the rampage Thursday at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg. 
 
 The shooting carried out by Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, ranks as the deadliest in the United States in two years and the bloodiest in modern Oregon history. 
 
 Authorities had indicated that Harper-Mercer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but they previously gave few details on the shootout he had with police officers. 
 
 Roseburg police Sergeant Joe Kaney and detective Todd Spingath, who were not wearing bullet-proof vests, ran toward Snyder Hall on campus as Harper-Mercer stood in the doorway of the building and fired toward them with a 9 MM handgun, Wesenberg said. 
 
 Seconds later, the two officers who were about 15 yards (14 meters) from the gunman fired back three times, with one round striking Harper-Mercer in the side and two others hitting a wall at the building's entrance, Wesenberg said. 
 
 The wounded gunman retreated to a classroom where he shot himself to death at the front of the room, Wesenberg said. He did not shoot another person after exchanging gunfire with the two officers. 
 
 "These men saved lives this day," Wesenberg said. 
 
 "They assessed that there was a threat. They were under fire, and they ran toward it," he added. 
 
 Roseburg police chief Jim Burge called the two officers heroes. 
 
 In addition to the 10 people who died in the massacre, including the gunman, nine others were wounded. 
 
 Authorities have said little regarding what they know about the motives of Harper-Mercer, who by many accounts was a troubled, socially awkward loner with a passion for guns. 
 
 President Barack Obama, who spoke out forcefully for stricter gun control measures after the massacre, plans to visit Roseburg on Friday to meet with families of the victims, the White House has said. 
 
 A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday for slain student Jason Johnson, 33. 
 
 In a statement on Wednesday, the family of Sarena Moore, 44, said the student killed in the attack had "a caring heart that was bigger than life itself." 
 
 (Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Cynthia Osterman) ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ROSEBURG, Ore. — The gunman who killed nine people at a community college here last week died at the front of the classroom where he committed most of the carnage, police officials said on Wednesday. 
 
 The gunman, Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with officers while standing just outside a school building at Umpqua Community College, before running back into a classroom and killing himself, the police said. At a news conference, the Oregon State Police said the responding officers were Detective Sgt. Joe Kaney and Detective Todd Spingath of the Roseburg Police Department, who arrived at the scene in plain clothes, without bulletproof vests. 
 
 They heard shots, and spotted Mr. Harper-Mercer in the doorway of the building, Snyder Hall. 
 
 He fired several rounds at the detectives, who responded with three shots. One hit Mr. Harper-Mercer on the right side, the police said. 
 
 After being injured, Mr. Harper-Mercer returned to Classroom 15, where he had killed his teacher and fellow students. There, he shot himself. 
 
 At the news conference, Police Chief Jim Burge said the officers saved lives. 
 
 “Without the response of the dedicated first responders, the magnitude of this event would have been multiplied,” he said. Chief Burge called the men heroes, but added that “they do not want to be heralded as heroes.” 
 
 Chief Burge said, “They feel they are only first responders who got there first and did a job they were trained to do.”
– A missed chance? Oregon mass shooter Christopher Harper-Mercer was kicked out of the military for trying to kill himself, but that didn't affect his ability to buy guns, law enforcement sources tell the Wall Street Journal. An Army spokeswoman tells the BBC that Harper-Mercer, who was 26 at the time of last week's rampage, was discharged in 2008 after less than a month in basic training, but under privacy rules, the reason cannot be disclosed. He did not receive a dishonorable discharge, which, under federal law, would have prevented him from buying firearms, the Journal reports. The six firearms Harper-Mercer was found with at Umpqua Community College were legally purchased by him or a relative. Harper-Mercer's rampage was the deadliest in the US in two years, and police say it could have been even worse if not for the heroic actions of two plainclothes officers who arrived at the scene, reports Reuters. Police say Sgt. Joe Kaney and Detective Todd Spingath, who were not wearing bulletproof vests, ran at the gunman as he stood in the doorway of a campus building, shooting at them with a handgun. Harper-Mercer was wounded in an exchange of fire and retreated before killing himself in the same classroom where he had killed a teacher and students, the New York Times reports. "These men saved lives this day," the local DA says. "They were under fire, and they ran toward it." (The gunman left behind writings complaining about his lack of a girlfriend.)