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Ten Killed in Oregon Campus Shooting; Hurricane Joaquin Heading Toward East Coast of US. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired October 02, 2015 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[00:00:16] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That's it for us tonight. I'll see you right back here tomorrow night. Our live coverage continues now with John Vause. He is in Oregon. And Isha Sesay at CNN in Los Angeles.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay at CNN Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Vause in Roseburg, Oregon, where we are having our breaking news coverage continuing here on CNN.

It is just after 9:00 p.m. here and investigators are still searching for a motive. Why would a 26-year-old man open fire on the campus of this community college killing 10 people and wounding seven others?

Law enforcement sources have told us his name is Christopher Harper Mercer. He was heavily armed, three handguns and an assault rifle. He also had a lot of ammunition, we're told, enough for a prolonged gun battle. He also had body armor. He eventually died in a shootout with police.

Those two police officers, who engaged the gunman, are being called heroes this evening. We're told they probably saved lives here this evening.

We have team coverage on all of what happened here over the last 12 hours or so. We have Sara Sidner standing by at the apartment of Mercer. We also have Kyung Lah at a hospital where many of the wounded have been treated.

And we will begin with Sara Sidner outside Mercer's apartment about five miles away from here.

And, Sara, we know that the apartment block has been sealed off. It has been searched. What have we learned about the gunman and have they found anything inside that apartment?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The law enforcement authorities are being quiet. They're not even confirming that this is actually the apartment that belongs to Harper. However, we did show a picture of Harper to some of the neighbors and they said yes, indeed, they've seen him walking around. He lives in the building behind us. One of the neighbors who lives in the building as well recognized him.

At this point, we have seen the FBI, we've seen the ATF, the sheriff's department all inside. Initially some of them came in with bulletproof vests on. They had dogs with them. And they were planning on going inside and they have been looking around and searching inside of the apartment. We've also seen a van that appears to be a van that would be collecting evidence as well here at the scene.

Neighbors have been hanging around here because they can't get into those couple of buildings there. It's been cordoned off with crime scene tape out. Investigators continue their work there. But they are being quiet here, not giving any details officially but we are hearing from neighbors tonight, they do believe that this is the apartment of Harper -- John.

VAUSE: And so have we learned anymore about what possibly could be the links that Harper has with this community college?

SIDNER: We have not. Not from the people that we have spoken to. And they said that look, he was very quiet. He seemed to keep to himself. The person that we spoke to basically said that, you know, he talked to him once. And he was, you know, fairly nice but he really didn't say a whole lot and they didn't see him kind of hanging out with many people either.

But what we were able to ascertain about what happened at the college, we ended up talking to one of the students who was in the room just next door as the shooting happened. I want you to hear what she has to say about what she heard and what she did after she heard the initial shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH COBB, WITNESS: I heard one gunshot and then I looked over outside and people were running away from the building. So I knew exactly what had just happened. So I said to the teacher, we've got to get out of here. These people running, we need to go. And then the second and third gunshots happened, and by that time, I was out the door.

SIDNER: What did you hear about the other students? Were you there where they were sort of screaming out of the classrooms?

COBB: I was one of the first people out. And so there were some people scattered around the campus and I was telling them, you need to get out. Follow me if you need to. There's been a shooting. People are injured. Some have been killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Basically you're listening to a young lady who had been in school for only four days when this happened. She also tells the story of her teacher, who went up to the adjoining door because that door was between her and the other classroom. She was about to open that door and then thought better of it, decided to keep it close. And she could hear the commotion going on when they heard those last two shots, everyone started to run out of the classroom and trying to get to safety.

[00:05:08] A harrowing tale from a young lady who says she doesn't know if she's going to be able to go back to that school anytime soon -- John.

VAUSE: Yes. OK. So, thank you. Sara Sidner who will be with us for the next few hours as we continue to cover this story. So thank you.

Let's go to Kyung Lah now who is at the Sacred Heart Medical Center where, as you say, many of the wounded have been treated. And what is the latest on their conditions there, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From what we are hearing, John, there are three people. They are the most critically injured of all the victims. There are 10 being treated at Mercy Hospital which is down where you are. But at this hospital which is a level two trauma hospital they airlifted three of the most seriously wounded. Two of them are in critical condition. One is in serious condition.

And while we were standing out here, trying to get a bit more context about what's happened as far as the injuries, we met the father and brother of one of the victims, an 18-year-old. Her name is Anna Boylan. It was her fourth day of school at community college. And she says that she -- before she went into surgery told her father and brother that she was sitting in class like she normally does. The gunman came in with his gun blazing. Here's what she told her father and brother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACY BOYLAN, FATHER OF ANA BOYLAN: The gentleman was systematically --

LAH: And he came in, right?

BOYLAN: He came in, and there were gunfire immediately and scattered the room, got everyone's attention. He -- from what I understood, what she said is he shot the professor point blank, right? One shot killed him, took him right out of it. And others had been injured. And then he -- this man had enough time. I don't know how much time elapsed before he was able to stand there and start asking people one by one what their religion was.

Are you a Christian? He would ask them. And if you're a Christian, stand up. And they would stand up. And he said, good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second. And then he shot and killed them. And he kept going down the line doing this to people.

And how much time do you need? You know. And she said he had a handgun, that it wasn't a big rifle, assault rifle or anything like this. This was a single handgun that he had enough ammunition and enough time to drop the magazine out of it, put another one in and continue his thing. How -- how does he have that much time at a facility? I mean --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad, you're --

BOYLAN: Yes, it's OK. I don't understand that. How he could have that much time to kill that many people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And that is Stacy Boylan, he is the father of Anna Boylan, again 18 years old on her fourth day of community college. She's inside this hospital right now. She is getting surgery because the bullet entered her back. It is lodged against her lower spine. Her father and brother say that she is alert. She is probably going to walk. She may have some pain. She survived, though.

She was able to live because she played dead on the floor. When the gunman came over to her and said you, blond girl, stand up. She didn't move. She pretended to be dead, John. A harrowing tale and something we expect we will hear more and more of as these survivors begin to share their story.

VAUSE: Hey, Kyung, that's harrowing account from the father of that young student there.

Kyung, we appreciate the report. Again we'll check in with you a little later on, as well.

Of course there are many accounts that of students hiding under desks or drawing the curtains, turning off the lights, and just hoping that they can survive through this rampage, through this mass shooting.

Rick Francona is normally our military analyst, who we talk to about all things Middle East and Syria. But this is actually your backyard here as well. You're from here. When you hear about these events today what goes through your mind?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Shock. I was -- spend a lot of time talking to friends and acquaintances and just trying to get a sense of what this means to the community and it's just like a such shockwave has gone through here because this is not why people live here. This is a small, rural community, serves a large area. There's a huge VA facility. Used to have a vibrant timber economy and that change in the economy is one of the reasons this campus is here. It's helping people retrain into other things. It's an integral part.

And when something like this happens at this campus it affects everybody in town. And just the look on people's faces today.

VAUSE: Yes.

FRANCONA: Just utter shock.

VAUSE: And while we're talking, there's also a vigil underway right now.

FRANCONA: Yes. [00:10:01] VAUSE: Thousands more have turned out for this candlelight

vigil where they are basically grieving for those who died and praying for those who survived but are wounded.

How will this shooting affect this community? How will they go back to the campus?

FRANCONA: This is a strong community. I think they will come out of it OK but it will take a long time. One, to get over the shock, goes through the grieving process, put their lives back together. But I think in the end you will see them come back. Just like other communities in the United States ever reacted to these things, Virginia Tech, Marshall, things like that.

VAUSE: I don't know if you've heard these reports but we are hearing from a number of people that the gunman called out people, asked them if they're Christians, asked them to stand up and then shot them. And when you hear that kind of thing happening here on a campus, I mean, it's horrific, it's terrifying. These things don't -- well, they're not meant to happen in Oregon.

FRANCONA: They don't happen here, that's why a lot of people live here.

VAUSE: Yes.

FRANCONA: That's why a lot of people came here so that they don't have to put up with the outside world. Unfortunately the outside world came to Roseburg today.

VAUSE: Yes. So when we look at this community, I mean, this is a unique college. You've touched on it before. The average age, I think, is 38?

FRANCONA: Thirty-eight.

VAUSE: A lot of them go to there to retrain, to try and get new jobs, to basically start a new life. And this is a place where so many lives ended. I just -- really I want to get a handle on how these people will get through this. And the other question, too, is this is a campus which has actually discussed the entire issue of having security guards who are armed on campus because this is meant to be a gun-free zone, right?

FRANCONA: Right. There's a lot of discussion today about the gun- free zone.

VAUSE: Yes.

FRANCONA: Is it gun-free zone, or was it not? And Oregon law is very tricky. Technically they can't prevent you from bringing a gun onto campus but they can prevent you from bringing it into a building so technically it's a gun-free zone.

VAUSE: Right. FRANCONA: And they have an armed guard. So this is going to bring

out a reassessment of the security in this area because everybody thought this is such a safe area. The guards were more of a watch to make sure things were OK. No one realized we were going to have to have a gun battle on this campus.

VAUSE: Put the military hat on very quickly. How much of a soft target this kind of campus?

FRANCONA: This campus in particular is a soft target. If you look at the way it's built it's built in a circle around the area. There are parking lots all the way around it. No gates, perfectly open. I have been on this campus many times, just drive up and park your car, you can walk through it. Never meant to be secured. It was supposed to be an open environment.

VAUSE: Yes. Rick, it's good to see you.

FRANCONA: Thanks.

VAUSE: It's sad that we're talking about this tonight. Thank you.

That's the latest from here. We'll have a lot more in the coming hours. But in the meantime, I'll just hand it back to Isha Sesay in our studios in Los Angeles -- Isha.

SESAY: Thank you, John.

Well, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed deep anger and impatience with yet another mass shooting in America. On Thursday, the president pushed for a change in gun laws and said he knew foes will accuse him of politicizing the tragedy but he said gun violence should be politicized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We become numb to this. We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for someone who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.

And what's become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any common sense gun legislation. Right now I can imagine the press release is being cranked out. We need more guns, they'll argue. Fewer gun safety laws. Does anybody really believe that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, we will re-run President Obama's comment in full two hours from now. The president's anger and frustration clearly on display there. You won't want to miss the president's full remarks. Stay with CNN for that. Well, Thursday's tragedy is just the latest in a stream of mass

shootings across the United States. Andy Parker is the father of Alison Parker, a Virginia news reporter, who was shot and killed on live television along with her photographer Adam Ward less than two months ago.

Andy Parker, thank you so much for joining us. We heard President Obama say in his comments on Thursday evening that this nation has become numb to mass shooting. Talk to me about how you and your family are doing on a day like this.

ANDY PARKER, FATHER OF ALISON PARKER: Well, Isha, it -- my heart breaks for these families because I was there five weeks ago. And I know that it just rips your heart and your soul out.

[00:15:12] But my second reaction is, I am outraged that this continues, this domestic terrorism, if you will, this cancer on our country continues to go on, and people -- I think people are finally having enough of it. I have to think that because we mobilized a number of -- I mean, we have thousands of people after Alison was killed and I think that there is a tipping point that people are finally saying, you know what, we have to do something. And the president was right that we have to politicize it. And that's what I'm doing --

SESAY: Yes.

PARKER: That's what I'm doing right now. The politicians that are beholden to the gun lobby, they have blood on their hands. And I'm going to hold them accountable and call them the cowards that they are and I think that the American people are going to do the same.

SESAY: What do you say to the likes of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson who says this is not an issue requiring more gun control. This is an issue of the mentality of the people who commit these terrible acts. What do you say to him and the likes of him?

PARKER: I think that he's -- just like Donald Trump, you've got -- you only have it half right. You know, if you have universal background checks, if you close loopholes you're going to save lives. It's just proven in states that have tighter gun controls there's less violence. And it is certainly the people that are -- as you always hear from people like that, their argument is well, guns don't kill people. People kill people. Well, again, that's a flawed argument and it's only half right.

But anything that you can do to prevent tragedy and prevent violence you have to do. I mean, it's like seat belts. You wear a seat belt in your car and it's not necessarily going to prevent you from losing your life in a horrific accident but it's going to help certainly and it might save your life. So that's -- you know, it is like a cancer. You have to treat -- you can't just treat it with one therapy. But the easiest path right now is just close these loopholes. Keep criminals from buying guns online, from buying them at these gun shows where people advertise that you can buy an AK-47 with no background check. I mean, what reasonable person would not want to do that? And I think

this guy Ben Carson is completely out of touch just like most of the Republican candidates are.

SESAY: Andy, five weeks ago you and your family were at the heart of the storm when Alison's life was tragically cut short. Today there are families in Oregon feeling unimaginable pain. Do you have a message for them?

PARKER: My message is, talk to other survivors. You know, unfortunately you joined a club that no one wants to join but we're here for you. There is nothing anyone can say or do to -- get you over the most tragic thing in your life, to lose a child, but just, you know, these people have to know that we're there and our thoughts and prayers are with them. More so, we're going to fight to see that this kind of thing just doesn't become routine like it's become.

SESAY: Andy Parker, we thank you for joining us on this evening. We know it is a difficult day for you and your family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and thank you again for your time.

PARKER: Isha, my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

SESAY: And our thoughts and prayers are of course with the Roseburg community and all those affected by today's violence in Oregon.

Well, as authorities try to piece together this unspeakable crime, we'll speak to former FBI negotiator about what comes next.

VAUSE: Our breaking news coverage continues from Roseburg, Oregon, after a short break.

[00:19:41]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RITA CAVIN, INTERIM PRESIDENT, UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Anger caused this. And we can't have anger around us right this minute. We need love and compassion and healing and it's going to take a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: You are watching CNN's breaking news coverage of the deadly campus shooting here in the United States. I'm Isha Sesay at CNN Los Angeles.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause in Roseburg, Oregon, and not far from here, hundreds maybe, more than 1,000 people have gathered for a vigil. They have been there for a few hours now. It is in a public park. Virgil Park. They have come together to grieve for those who were killed here earlier today. And also to pray for those who survived, the seven people who were badly wounded during a rampage on the campus of this community college.

And law enforcement sources have told us that the gunman who shot and killed those 10 people here is a man known as Chris Harper Mercer. He is 26 years old. Investigators have interviewed his family and friends. Tactical response teams have searched his apartment. And Roseburg sheriff says seven were wounded in that attack. But the local sheriff here says he will not name the gunman because he does not want to give him credit. What he craves here today he wanted his name put out there in the public. He wanted notoriety for this and the officials here say they will not be naming the gunman who carried out those atrocity here earlier today -- Isha.

[00:25:19] SESAY: Well, thank you, John.

Well, for more on the deadly shooting I'm joined by former FBI lead negotiator Chris Voss. He joins us now in the studio.

Chris, thank you so much for joining us. The shooter has been named but now authorities face what could be an enviable task of trying to piece together who he was and why this happened.

CHRIS VOSS, FORMER FBI LEAD INTERNATIONAL KIDNAPPING NEGOTIATOR: Right, right. Well, they're going to be taking a very deliberate approach to this because the shooter is down. What they really need to do is go over this step by step and work from this moment backwards. Basically and look for evidence of his planning and clearly this was well planned. They're going to look for what his psychological influences are, whether or not anyone tried to manipulate him from the outside.

And of course they've got to make sure that the area is safe, which is why they've just taken standard precautions, bringing bomb dogs with them wherever they go. They have to make sure that his apartment isn't booby trapped in some way in some way that he thought he was going to try to show the world that he was smarter than everyone else even maybe after he was dead. So it's appropriate for them to take their time to be very deliberate and to not comment very much as this evolves.

SESAY: Let me ask you about the statement you just made that this was clearly well planned. What leads you to say that it was well planned and not an impulsive action or more spontaneous action, if you will?

VOSS: Well, to start with the assemblage of what it's been reported that he had with him at the scene. Just the mere fact that he wore a bulletproof vest if that's true. And from the reporting it seems to be a true statement. That indicates a vision of an event in his mind that he was going to need to defend himself from.

And so he at least had to plan long enough to realize he was going to be shot at, which meant he didn't expect to die right away. He wanted to live for a while. He was on a killing journey and he had a vision of that killing journey. And typically these visions are fairly complicated and they have been thinking about them for quite a while. So that's the hypothesis issue that investigators will start with, that this is well-planned and the minimal indicators just from the very beginning tend to back that up.

SESAY: As I understand the authorities are at an address associated with the shooter? As you talk about him having this vision one would expect to find clues at a location that he lived at.

VOSS: Absolutely.

SESAY: Talk to me about the specific clues authorities are looking for.

VOSS: Well, they're going to look for evidence of his writings. Very common, the mental processes that somebody does this, they will have written it out, justification for it. It could be in the form of handwritten notes, it could be online. It's one of the reasons why they actually want to be slow in releasing his name because they want to scoop up as much evidence as possible that he may have left online and public media, social media to find out where the clues were and maybe how long he had been thinking about this.

SESAY: Chris Voss, such a pleasure having you in the show. I know you are going to stay with us across these hours ahead and give us more insight. We appreciate that. Thank you.

VOSS: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you very much.

VOSS: Yes. Of course.

SESAY: Well, we have much more on the campus shooting in Oregon. Just ahead we will talk with a former investigator about how agents look for clues in a case like this.

VAUSE: You are watching CNN breaking news coverage from Roseburg, Oregon. A lot more after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You are watching CNN's Breaking News coverage of a deadly campus shooting in the United States. I'm Isha Sesay at CNN Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE: Thanks for being with us everybody. I'm John Vause in Roseburg, Oregon. And we do now know that authorities say they will release the names of the ten people who died here on Friday. This has been declared a mass casualty event, and with that there comes procedures and protocol. That means that there will be a lengthy period of time to identify those who were killed. This is also a small community, just one coroner. So it will take time to go through and properly identify all those who were gunned down at this community college.

We are being told that the gunman is a 26-year-old man. He was heavily armed; two handguns, as well as a rifle, possibly an assault rifle. He may have had body armor. He also had a lot of ammunition, enough, we're told, for a prolonged shootout with police. He indeed died at the hands of two policemen during a shootout.

There is an ongoing vigil not far from where I am right now. More than 1,000 people have gathered in a public park to pray for those who survived. Seven were badly wounded during this shootout. Of course, ten others were killed. We have been told the name of the gunman, but the Douglas County Sheriff here has told us he won't be naming him publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HARVIN, SHERIFF, DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON: We would encourage media and the community to avoid using it. We encourage you to not repeat it. We encourage you not to glorify and create sensationalism for him. He in no way deserves this. Focus your attention on the victims and the families and helping them get through this difficult time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Let's get more now from the former Matt Horace. He's a former ATF Executive, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He is

currently an official with FJC Security. He joins us now at the CNN Center in Atlanta. So, Matt, let's just use some of your experience here. We are told that the ATF right now is trying to trace back the weapons which were used here, trying to work out how the gunman obtained the three handguns, as well as the rifle. How do they do that, and why is that so important to this investigation?

MATT HORACE , SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, FJC SECURITY: Well, what we do, we have a system, we have a tracing system we are the only organization in the world that has this capability. Under these conditions we do what is called an "urgent trace". That means we do everything we can to nail down where the gun came from, from the time it was first sold on the retail market to the time the possessor got it until today. When that happens, that tells us whether the guns was purchased legally by him, someone he may have been related to or if the gun may have came from the illegal market.

VAUSE: Okay, so if he obtained it legally, where do you go from there?

HORACE: Well if he obtained it legally that at least tells us that he didn't buy it as a result of a firearms trafficking scheme. So we will find out

when he purchased it, what state he purchased it from and that will also tell us where he name came from initially. I am told that he's from the Midwest; he traveled to Oregon. You never know. He may have purchased the guns in Georgia and if he did, who was he living with when he was in Georgia? Who knew him? Who has insight into what may have caused the incident? So that will be one element in a course of many in this investigation.

VAUSE: When you look at the fire power this guy brought onto the campus, we're told three handguns and a rifle, possibly an assault rifle, a lot of ammunition and body armor, what does that tell you? HORACE: Well it tells me he was prepared for conflict. You know, he had three pistols which may have been anywhere from 12 to 15 rounds per magazine. So he was prepared to shoot and cause mass casualty; and then he had a long gun. Now I'm not certain at this point whether it was a rifle or a carbine, but at any rate, he shot a lot of people. He injured even more and prepared for conflict.

VAUSE: We have been told a lot about these two police officers who engaged the gunman very quickly when they reached the campus. They went straight to the scene. It's a different protocol now, we're told. They don't gather outside and then secure the area. They go straight to where the shooting is happening. They essentially took this guy on. I mean, what were they up against, when you hear about the fire power this guy had, and also the possibility he may have had body armor?

HORACE: Well they were up against a threat and, obviously, under the current protocols our job is to control and mitigate that threat immediately; but let's remember law enforcement officers' train for this very type of incident. So no matter what type of ammunition the suspect has, we train for just these types incidents and that's what you saw happen today. Notwithstanding the

fact that most of these suspects in these cases expect to be engaged. They know

they are not going to live through the conflict and they get what they are looking for.

VAUSE: Yes, and along the way killed ten people and wound seven others and it could have been a whole lot worse. Matt, thanks for speaking with us. We appreciate it.

HORACE: Thank you. Have a great evening.

VAUSE: I sure will. Thank you. Okay, Isha, we will have a lot more, of course, in our continuing coverage here, from Roseburg, Oregon, but in the meantime back to you there in Los Angeles.

SESAY: Thank you, John. Well the chaos on the Umpqua campus began Thursday morning local time. That's when 911calls suddenly flooded police dispatchers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY (voiceover): 10:38 a.m. Thursday morning, the first calls come in to authorities.

DISPATCHER: Active shooter, UCC. 1140 Umpqua Road.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): Somebody is outside of one of the doors shooting through the doors. We do have one female that has been shot at this time.

SESAY: Within minutes law enforcement is on the scene.

OFFICER: Exchanging shots with him. He's in a classroom.

DISPATCHER: Copy, Roseburg 17. Exchanging gunshots right now with a male. He's in a classroom on the southeast side of Snyder Hall.

OFFICER: Unconfirmed report that he's got a long gun.

SESAY: We now know the shooter is a 26-year-old male and believed to have four guns, according to a law enforcement official.

FEMALE STUDENT: I heard, like, a loud bang. There was a couple of girls running, like sprinting away from the building and then I hear

screaming after that first gunshot. Then I looked out and I saw the people running and I said to the teacher, we have to get out of here right now.

OFFICER: Dispatch as many ambulances as possible to this incident. We have upwards of 20 victims.

SESAY: And then police are able to stop the gunman.

SHERIFF: Officers from around the county immediately responded to the college, and upon arriving there, they located the shooter in one of the buildings. Officers engaged that suspect. There was an exchange of gunfire. The shooter is deceased.

SESAY: In the aftermath of the massacre, law enforcement are searching for any warning signs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, we will have much more from Oregon ahead this hour. Another story we are following for you, Hurricane Joaquin is gaining strength and its next target, the U.S. is getting ready. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Thanks for staying with us. Thousands of people are gathered in Roseburg for a vigil. You can see them here, holding candles, filling a park there on Umpqua Community College. About 22,000 people live in the rural city of Roseburg, 180 miles, or 290 kilometers, South of Portland. A rural community. A close knit community, a community that never thought they'd witness the scenes they have endured today. Well here's the latest on the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.

Law enforcement sources tell CNN the gunman was a 26-year-old man. Authorities say he opened fire on the campus on Thursday morning, killing ten people and wounding seven others. He died during a shootout with officers. The father of a wounded victim says the gunman targeted Christians. He said -- she says -- I should say, apologies - that he asked students, one by one, if they were a Christian before shooting them.

Well, Hurricane Joaquin is now a Category Four storm has its sights set on the U.S. Joaquin is moving slowly right now, but it is strong with sustained winds of 130 miles, or 209 kilometers, per hour. Once it leaves the Bahamas Friday, it is expected to pick up steam. That could mean life-threatening rip currents and flooding for eastern parts of the United States. The warnings are drudging up memories of Hurricane Sandy just three years ago but forecasters say the damage will be nowhere near that bad. Virginia and New Jersey have already declared states of emergency in preparation for heavy rain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL de BLASIO, NEW YORK: NYC is ready. That is the important point here. New York City is ready. We will have flooding. We will see trees down. We will see power lost. Our message to everybody in the Commonwealth is be prepared.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD), while we are hoping for the best, we are preparing for the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well meteorologist Karen Maginnis joins us with more on all of this. Karen, key questions here: where is the storm right now and currently how strong is it?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This has been a really problematic hurricane, problematic on so many levels. One, it has formed across the Bahamas and has moved very little. So the Bahamas have really been hammered with high winds, heavy rainfall, downed trees, downed power lines. We are just seeing little trickles of information coming in from the Bahamas. Here's the latest information from the National Hurricane Center: it is a solid category four hurricane. Now what we have been watching all day long is we have been expecting this to perhaps make its move more to the north, but it does look like this is a very stubborn system that is going to make its own time.

Let's go ahead and give you kind of a broad view as we look across the area that -- now Hurricane Joaquin is affecting. It has many different components, a lot of comparisons associated with Hurricane Sandy. When this was moving across the Bahama region we were seeing it actually intensify. It went from a Category Two very quickly to Category Three. The comparisons, as I mentioned, to sandy are there because we watch it just kind of navigate right along the coast. But with Sandy, it moved along the Eastern Seaboard, and as it did, it all of a sudden made that left hand turn, right in to that southern New England coast. It claimed almost 300 lives. So in the interim, we saw this system with torrential rainfall, and that's what we are looking at as we go to the next several days.

In South Carolina, my old stomping ground, they are looking at the potential for historic rainfall. We could see ten to 12 inches. This shatters all records going back to the early 1900s. This is not associated with the hurricane. It is associated with a stubborn area of low pressure. So the hurricane is enhancing it, but that moisture is separate and that's going to be the big problem coming up. Back to you guys.

SESAY: Karen, I know you are going to stay on top of this for us. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Now, hundreds of people gathered at a vigil in Oregon tonight to honor

those who died in today's shooting. Now they must figure out how to make sense of it all. I'll speak to a psychologist about that next.

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SESAY: Hello, everyone. You are watching CNN's breaking news coverage of a deadly campus shooting in the United States. I'm Isha Sesay at CNN Los Angeles.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause in Roseburg, Oregon. Not far from where I am right now thousand have gathered and they are still there. They have been there for hours now for a vigil for those who were gunned down on the campus of this community college. It's a candlelit vigil in Virgil Park they are being - they are praying as well, for those who survived this shooting. Seven people were wounded, along with the ten people who were killed. Our affiliate, KOIN, spoke with one witness, a student, who heard the gun fire. She was in a classroom right next door.

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HANNAH MILES, Student: At first, it was, like, quiet. Like everybody in our room jumped because we didn't know what it was. And then it was quiet. Then, I don't know, it was just weird. Then we heard two more, or one more, and Ms. Ferrit (ps), my teacher, she's like, I wonder is something going on. Someone from the back of the classroom said, you should open the door and see if they are all right. She's like, I'm not going to open the door. I'll see if they are okay but not opening the door. She goes to the door, because there's a door connecting our room to theirs, she knocked on it. She said, hey, is everyone okay in there? And it was just rapid fire. Shot after shot after shot. And she looks at us and she's like -- the look on her face was just -- I will never forget it. It's just -- I don't even know.

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VAUSE: Isha, it is difficult to overstate the impact this shooting is having in this small community. There's 22,000 people live here, about 50,000 in the wider county. It seems everybody knows somebody who was caught up in this horrific event here on this campus earlier today, Isha.

SESAY: Indeed. The community going through so much at such a difficult time for them. John we appreciate the reporting from the scene there.

Well, investigators have started interviewing family members and friends of the shooter, but as for his mental health history, police say they are still trying to figure that out. I'm joined now by license psychologist, Erik Fisher. Eric, always good to speak to you. We're trying to piece together how this could happen. All we know right now about the shooter is that he was a 26-year-old male. Can we discern anything from that? ERIK FISHER, LICENSED PSYCHOLOGIST: I mean, we really can't. There's some information, potentially disinformation from different sources around the internet, potentially the media. I think what we have to do is sit back and allow accurate information to come out.

What we see though, and I think what we can really discern from this, is we have a common thread through all of these issues that have happened in the last three months even in our culture, from South Carolina to Tennessee to Louisiana to now, Virginia, now in Oregon, is the common core of hatred, rage and anger. It's these emotions are driving these behaviors. As a culture we don't have a great understanding of emotions and our purpose to them. Often when we bury them, and we don't discuss and learn to work them out, that can lead to mental health issues, especially in people who don't have good coping mechanisms, might have some cognitive issues or don't have very good social skills.

SESAY: So when you say that, my immediate question is, would this have come with warning signs?

FISHER: You know, there are always factors that we can look at, and psychological testing are the things that might be potential warning signs that we would see. However, you can never be 100-percent certain who's going to be an absolute risk, and we don't live in a culture where we lock up people based on an assessment of risk. We need to have a better pulse on what's going

on. The tragedy is, here's people who seem to move to a small town to escape the larger world, as one of your other people who was interviewed earlier stated. What we have to realize is mental health and emotions are something that affect us all. Our children and young adults, as well as older adults, we need to all continue to communicate and learn to understand each other and learn to get along because the issue that I see happening now is while we spend a lot of time talking about terrorism around the world, what we are finding is a number of almost home grown terrorists that are acting out, like I said, their rage, anger and hatred on neighbors.

SESAY: Erik Fisher, always appreciate the insight and perspective. Thank you so much for joining us.

FISHER: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: And you are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Isha Sesay in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause in Roseburg, Oregon. A lot more of CNN's continuing coverage of the shooting here on the campus of a community college after a short break.

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