Gunman’s mom knew her son had weapons
PORTLAND, Ore. – The mother of a gunman who killed nine people and himself at an Oregon community college allowed her troubled son to have guns and acknowledged in online posts that he struggled with autism, but she didn’t seem to know he was potentially violent.
The online writings by Laurel Harper date from a year ago to nine years ago and offer fresh insight into the gunman, 26-year-old Christopher Harper-Mercer.
Harper and son shared an apartment outside Roseburg. Investigators have recovered 14 firearms – six found at Umpqua Community College, where the killings occurred, and eight at the apartment. Neighbors of mother and son in California, where they lived before moving to Oregon in 2013, have said Harper-Mercer and his mother would go target shooting together.
General wants more troops in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON – The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan recommended on Tuesday that President Barack Obama revise his plan and keep more than 1,000 U.S. troops in the country beyond 2016, just days after a deadly U.S. airstrike “mistakenly struck” a hospital during fierce fighting in the north.
Gen. John F. Campbell told Congress that conditions on the ground have changed since Obama announced his plan in 2014 to cut the current U.S. force of 9,800.
Campbell, the top commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, said that dropping to 1,000 troops would leave the United States with limited ability to train and assist the Afghan forces.
Associated Press
