This article has been updated.
Ten people were killed and seven injured after a gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College on Thursday in Roseburg, Oregon, federal law enforcement officers told NBC News. Here’s what we know so far about the deadly shooting.
The shooter
#CandlelightVigil @ Stewart Park in honor of everyone involved today at #UCCShooting. pic.twitter.com/yqVyTo0KTL
— Roma Villavicencio (@RomaV_KOBI) October 2, 2015The gunman, who is now deceased, was 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, and four weapons — three handguns and one long gun similar to an AR-style rifle — were recovered at the scene, law enforcement officials told NBC News. The shooter died after exchanging gunfire with police, who were called to the scene at 10:38 a.m. local time (1:38 p.m. ET), according to Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin.
“We do know that we have at least two heroic officers who responded into the building within minutes and exchanged gunfire with the suspect,” Hanlin told reporters on Thursday night. No officers were injured in the shooting.
Of those who were injured and killed, 10 were admitted to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg. Three female victims are being treated at Sacred Heart General Hospital in Eugene, Oregon, and, altogether, they were struck with between 18 and 34 bullets, a hospital official told NBC News.
Brown ordered flags to be lowered to half mast in honor of the victims.
The scene
The shooter reportedly opened fire near one of the classrooms in the science area.
Umpqua Community College will remain closed until Monday, Oct. 5, the school announced. It is a two-year college with about 3,300 full-time students and 16,000 part-time students. Some of those students are younger undergraduates, though a significant portion are older returning-education students. The college began offering courses in 1961, and is the only community college in Douglas County. Roseburg is located in southwestern Oregon, approximately a three-hour drive south of Portland, Oregon.
“Douglas County is a timber community. We have roughly 107,000 people who live in the county,” Hanlin explained. “It is a peaceful community. We have our share of crime like any community. Certainly, this is a huge shock.”
The president responds
President Obama offered his condolences to families during a press conference on Thursday evening. The tragedy spurred him to make his strongest remarks yet on gun control laws.
“Somehow this is becoming routine. The reporting is becoming routine. My response here at this podium is becoming routine,” Obama said with apparent frustration. “It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. And what has become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun regulation. Their response is being cranked out right now: We need more guns. We need fewer gun laws. Does anybody really believe that?”
WATCH: Hillary Clinton reacts to Oregon shooting
The president has traveled to communities struck by mass shootings at least seven times in the past to make remarks. This year, he spoke in Charleston, South Carolina, after a shooting at a historic black church that killed nine black parishioners. In the past, he has also spoken twice at Fort Hood, Kileen, Texas, after two shootings in 2014 and 2009, as well as in Tucson, Arizona; Aurora, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; and the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.
Obama insisted that America is the only advanced country in the world that faces such regular mass shootings without enacting gun control laws in response, and challenged voters to consider the issue of gun violence when voting.
“I hope and pray that I don’t have to come out again during my tenure as president to offer my condolences to families in this circumstance — but based on my experience, I don’t think I can do that,” he said. “And that is a terrible thing to say. And it can change.”
—NBC News contributed reporting to this story.
Joy Y. Wang