A cache of 13 weapons has been discovered in the possession of the gunman who opened fire on a writing class at a community college in rural Oregon on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring seven in the deadliest mass shooting in the state’s history.

Seven weapons were recovered at the gunman’s home, in addition to the six weapons that were recovered on the campus of Umpqua Community College, Celinez Nunez, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told reporters during a Friday morning press briefing. A bulletproof jacket and five extra magazines were also recovered at the scene in Roseburg, Oregon, where heartbroken residents, students, survivors and families were grappling with grief and indignation.

All 13 weapons were purchased legally by the shooter or a family member in the last three years, Nunez said, as a national debate reignited over long languishing gun control reforms. The Douglas County Sheriff’s department said on Twitter that investigators recovered five pistols and one rifle from the crime scene.

Douglas county sheriff John Hanlin said during the press conference that officials were still working to notify victims next-of-kin and said the medical examiner’s office was expected to release their names and brief biographies Friday afternoon.

Hanlin has refused to name the gunman out of deference to the victims and their families, and chastised the media for reporting his name, saying it “glorified” a murderer.

But federal officials and the shooter’s own family identified him as 26-year-old Christopher Mercer, who lived near the school and was cornered in a hall by a police officer who reported exchanging shots with the killer.



The father of Chris Harper Mercer says he is ‘devastated’ by the campus shooting. Link to video

The gunman’s father, who is English, said he was “just as shocked as everybody” at his son’s actions. “I can’t answer any questions right now, I don’t want to answer any questions right now,” Ian Mercer said late on Thursday. “It’s been a devastating day, devastating for me and my family. Shocked is all I can say.”

Although little more is known about his son, Chris, he appears to have left an online footprint that hints at interest in mass shootings as well as apparent support for the IRA. Mercer was born in the UK before moving to the US at a young age.

The Army said on Friday that Chris Mercer failed basic training in 2008. Army spokesman Ben Garrett said Mercer was in the military for a little over a month at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, but was discharged for failing to meet the minimum standards.

Garrett did not say which standards Mercer failed. Generally, the Army requires recruits to pass physical fitness tests and to be in generally good physical and mental health. Recruits must also pass a multiple-choice test covering science, math, reading comprehension and other topics.

He had reportedly recently posted on a blog about a gunman who killed two US journalists live on air in August. The author described Vester Flanagan as a man who “wanted the world to see his actions” before adding: “Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”

A neighbour, Bronte Hart, said he lived upstairs and would “sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light”.

Mercer’s step-sister, Carmen Nesnick, expressed shock and confusion over her stepbrother’s role in the attack, telling reporters on Thursday night that he was a “nice guy”.

“All he ever did was put everyone before himself,” said Nesnick, who lives in California, where Mercer lived before moving to Oregon. “He wanted everyone to be happy.”

In the aftermath of the rampage, harrowing details have begun to emerge of the scene inside the classroom. Witnesses said the gunman demanded to know students’ religion before shooting them.

Hannah Miles, a 19-year-old freshman who had been in her writing class when her teacher got a call from security saying the school was in lockdown, said she heard gunshots from a neighbouring classroom.

“There was a huge pop. It sounded like a ruler smacking against a chalkboard. Everyone jumped and we didn’t know what was going on. Then there was another one,” Miles told reporters. She was eventually evacuated by police from the locked classroom.

A sympathy sign is seen at sunrise outside Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

The father of Anastasia Boylan, an 18-year-old student who was in class when Mercer came in shooting, said she survived by playing dead.

“[Mercer] came in and there was gunfire immediately and he scattered the room. From what I understood from what she said was he shot the professor point blank, one shot killed him,” Stacey Boylan told CNN.

“‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them, and ‘if you are a Christian then stand up’ and they would stand up. He’d say ‘because you are a Christian you’re going to see God in about one second’ and then he shot and killed them. And he kept going down the line doing this to people.”

Jim Bright, who has lived on Mercer’s street for 13 years, told the Guardian that “the thing that keeps coming back to us is how he asked people their religions, and if they were Christians he shot them in the head”.

Emergency services first received a report of shots fired at the campus at about 10.38am local time. The community college, which mostly offers adult education courses, has roughly 3,000 registered students, but only a few hundred attend full-time.

US president Barack Obama gives a fiery speech on the Oregon shooting: ‘Somehow this has become routine’. Link to video

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, a visibly angry Barack Obama said: “We are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or who want to do harm to other people. We are the only advanced country on earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.”

The mood in Roseburg on Friday remained brittle, with daily routines continuing amid a mood of disbelief.

“It’s a tight-knit community,” said resident David Whin. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. Until they release the names, people won’t quite realise what’s happened.”

The number of fatalities had not changed, said Sheriff Hanlin, who in a 2013 letter to vice-president Joe Biden said stricter firearm regulations would be an “indisputable insult to the American people”. He did not provide an update on the injured victims. The local hospital said two of the injured survivors were in stable condition.

As the aftermath continued to sink in, some residents worried that the lessons of another American mass shooting might not match the call to action that Obama had articulated.

“I think people here will buy more guns,” Whan said. “It’s their attitude that it keeps them safe.”

At the nearby Roseburg Gun Shop, defiant customers queued in line.

Defiance from customers + staff at Roseburg Gun Shop. 'A different outcome if the teacher had been packing.' pic.twitter.com/wFjYwdKuFS — Rory Carroll (@rorycarroll72) October 2, 2015

“All of Oregon stands with Roseburg and Umpqua Community College,” said Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, during a press conference later on Friday.



She said there would be a time for state and national leaders to hold a conversation on how to prevent these mass shootings, but said “today was not the day”.



“One person’s deranged act may have indeed broken all of our hearts but he cannot prevent all of our hearts from growing back bigger and stronger,” she said.



US senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, flew back from Washington after learning of the attack.



“Right now is a time for healing and helping the community,” he said. “For the future, it is clear it has to be about words and intentions if this carnage is to end. As a country, we cannot just shrug our shoulders and move on.”

Additional reporting by Rory Carroll in Roseburg and Amanda Holpuch in New York











