Oregon gunman queried students on religion during shootings

 In one of the deadliest of a series of school shootings that have become violently familiar across the U.S., a gunman opened fire at a community college in southwestern Oregon on Thursday morning,

killing at least nine and injuring seven others before dying in a shootout with police.


The massacre at Umpqua Community College in this rural lumber town began when the assailant, armed with three handguns and an assault rifle, stormed Snyder Hall and started firing, asking students about their religion as he attacked.

A series of frantic police recordings, punctuated with the scream of sirens, narrated the terrifying scene at the two-year college, about 180 miles south of Portland, where the school year had just begun Monday. The chaos was apparent as ambulances were called and victims were tallied.

A dispatcher could be heard saying the gunman was “outside one of the doors, shooting through the doors” in the hall, with 35 people inside.

Several minutes later, an officer is heard describing a gun battle with the assailant. “The suspect is down,” someone shouted, while another officer called in for “as many ambulances as possible.”latimes