text: ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) — The gunman who opened fire in an Oregon college shot one classmate after saying he could save her life by begging, and others were killed after being told to crawl across the floor, according to relatives of students in the classroom. 
   
   This undated photo provided by Bonnie Schaan shows her daughter, Cheyeanne Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had her kidney removed after being shot during a fatal shooting at Umpqua Community College on Thursday,... (Associated Press) 
   
   Melody Siewell places flowers at a makeshift memorial near the road leading to Umpqua Community College, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Armed with multiple guns, Chris Harper Mercer walked... (Associated Press) 
   
   CORRECTS SPELLING OF CHEYEANNE - Bonnie Schaan, second from left, discuss her daughter, Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, who was wounded in the shooting at Umpqua Community College, during a news conference outside... (Associated Press) 
   
   A timeline of law enforcement response to the Umpqua Community College shooting is posted for the media at a news conference, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Armed with multiple guns, Chris... (Associated Press) 
   
   Bonnie Schaan leaves a news conference outside Mercy Medical Center, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore., after talking to reporters about her 16-year-old daughter Cheyanne Fitzgerald. Cheyanne... (Associated Press) 
   
   Randy Scroggins, a pastor at New Beginnings Church of God, cries as he talks about is daughter Lacey Scroggins on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Scroggins says his daughter Lacey was wounded... (Associated Press) 
   
   This undated photo from a MySpace page that appeared to belong to Chris Harper Mercer shows him holding a rifle. Authorities identified Mercer as the gunman who went on a deadly shooting rampage at Umpqua... (Associated Press) 
   
   Signs calling for prayers and remembrance for those killed in a fatal shooting at Umpqua Community College, are seen on a pair of local businesses, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Armed with... (Associated Press) 
   
   Randy Scroggins, a pastor at New Beginnings Church of God, cries in his church Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Scroggins had just spoke on the phone with the mother of a man who was shot and... (Associated Press) 
   
   Vanessa Becker, chairwoman of the Umpqua Community College Board of Trustees, speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore., where she announced that classes would not resume... (Associated Press) 
   
   CORRECTS SPELLING OF CHEYEANNE - Bonnie Schaan attends a news conference about her 16-year-old daughter Cheyeanne Fitzgerald outside Mercy Medical Center, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Cheyeanne... (Associated Press) 
   
   A sign in remembrance for those killed in a fatal shooting at Umpqua Community College, is displayed at a local business, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Armed with multiple guns, Chris Harper... (Associated Press) 
   
   Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Hanlin said that Christopher Harper-Mercer, the gunman that killed nine at Umpqua Community... (Associated Press) 
   
   Vincent Attanasio holds up a sign while performing with the Roseburg High School band Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. The band was collecting donations for for families of the victims of the... (Associated Press) 
   
   Charley Thompson, left, and his wife Rachel Thompson place flowers at a makeshift memorial near the road leading to Umpqua Community College, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. Armed with multiple... (Associated Press) 
   
   Vincent Attanasio holds up a sign while performing with the Roseburg High School band Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Roseburg, Ore. The band was collecting donations for for families of the victims of the... (Associated Press) 
   
   However, Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer spared a student and gave the "lucky one" something to deliver to authorities, according to the mother of a student who witnessed Thursday's rampage. 
   
   Authorities have not disclosed whether they have an envelope or package from Harper-Mercer, who Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Saturday killed himself as officers arrived. But a law enforcement official said a manifesto of several pages had been recovered. 
   
   Bonnie Schaan, the mother of 16-year-old Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, said she was told by her 16-year-old daughter that the gunman gave someone an envelope and told him to go to a corner of the classroom. 
   
   Harper-Mercer said the person "'was going to be the lucky one,'" Schaan told reporters outside a hospital where her daughter's kidney was removed after she was shot. 
   
   Relatives of other survivors of the shooting that killed nine also said Harper-Mercer gave something to a student in the class. 
   
   Pastor Randy Scroggins, whose 18-year-old daughter Lacey escaped without physical injuries, said she told him that the gunman called to a student, saying: "'Don't worry, you're the one who is going to survive.'" 
   
   Harper-Mercer then told the student that inside the shooter's backpack was "all the information that you'll need, give it to the police," Scroggins said, citing the account by his daughter. 
   
   Scroggins also said his daughter heard the gunman tell one victim he would spare that person's life if the student begged, then shot the begging victim anyway. 
   
   Lacey Scroggins also spoke about students being ordered to crawl to the middle of the room before being shot. Scroggins said his daughter survived because she was lying on the floor and partially covered by the body and blood of a fellow student. The gunman thought Lacey Scroggins was dead as well, stepped over her and shot someone else. 
   
   Randy Scroggins received a phone call from that student's mother while speaking with The Associated Press. 
   
   "He saved my girl. I will forever call your son my hero," he said of 20-year-old Treven Anspach. He told the man's mother he would mention her son during his Sunday church service and ask for prayers. "I'm so sorry for your loss." 
   
   Janet Willis said her granddaughter Anastasia Boylan was wounded in the Thursday attack and pretended to be dead as Harper-Mercer kept firing, killing eight students and a teacher. 
   
   Willis said she visited her 18-year-old granddaughter in a hospital in Eugene, where the sobbing Boylan told her: "'Grandma, he killed my teacher!'" 
   
   Boylan also said the shooter told one student in the writing class to stand in a corner, handed him a package and told him to deliver it to authorities, Willis said. 
   
   The law enforcement official who disclosed the existence of the manifesto did not reveal its contents but described it as an effort to leave a message for law enforcement. 
   
   The official is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to disclose information and spoke on the condition of anonymity. 
   
   The official said the document was left at the scene of the shooting but wouldn't specify how authorities obtained it. 
   
   Boylan, a freshman at Umpqua Community College, also told her grandmother the gunman asked students about their faith. 
   
   "If they said they were Christian, he shot them in the head," Willis said, citing the account given by her granddaughter. 
   
   However, conflicting reports emerged about Harper-Mercer's words as he shot his victims. 
   
   Stephanie Salas, the mother of Rand McGowan, another student who survived, said she was told by her son that the shooter asked victims whether they were religious but did not specifically target Christians. 
   
   Salas said it was like telling the victims "you're going to be meeting your maker." 
   
   Salas said the gunman told victims "'this won't hurt very long'" before shooting them. 
   
   Law enforcement officials have not given details about what happened in the classroom. However they released a timeline that shows police arrived at the scene six minutes after the first 911 call and exchanged gunfire with the shooter two minutes later. 
   
   Harper-Mercer was enrolled in the class, but officials have not disclosed a possible motive for the killings. In a statement released by authorities, his family said they were "shocked and deeply saddened" by the slayings. 
   
   The dead ranged in age from 18 to 67 in the attack in Roseburg, a rural timber town about 180 miles south of Portland. 
   
   Harper-Mercer wore a flak jacket and brought at least six guns and five ammunition magazines when he went to the campus that morning. 
   
   Oregon's top federal prosecutor said the shooter used a handgun when he opened fire. 
   
   Several years ago, Harper-Mercer moved to Oregon from Torrance, California, with his mother Laurel Harper. 
   
   Harper-Mercer's social media profiles suggested he was fascinated by the Irish Republican Army and frustrated by traditional organized religion. 
   
   Scroggins said he was grateful his daughter survived Harper-Mercer's attack. 
   
   "There's been a lot of emotion," he said. "But others don't get their children back." 
   
   ___ 
   
   Contributing to this report are Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper and Rachel La Corte in Portland; and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho. ||||| Despite Mr. Harper-Mercer’s online interest in high-profile shootings and neighbors’ memories of him as an enthusiastic gun collector who frequently went target shooting with his mother, the gunman’s father told CNN he did not know his son owned guns. 
   
   Mr. Harper-Mercer’s parents divorced a decade ago, and he had lived with his mother. The father said he had not seen his son since he and his mother, Laurel Harper, moved to Oregon about two years ago, but said there was no “disharmony or any bitterness” between him and his son. 
   
   Adding a raw, personal voice to the debate over gun control in the wake of this latest mass shooting, he said the United States needed to tighten gun laws. 
   
   “It has to change,” he said. “How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, what right do you have to take someone’s life?” He would not discuss his son’s mental health issues, deferring to the police investigation. “Obviously, someone who goes and kills nine people has to have some kind of issue,” he said. 
   
   Standing on his lawn, Mr. Mercer said the shooting had devastated his family. “But we’re not alone in this,” he said. “My heart goes out to all the families that were affected by this.” 
   
   His interview came on the same afternoon that relatives of one of the students wounded in his son’s rampage also stepped in front of the microphones, here outside the front doors of Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg. 
   
   Image Christopher Harper-Mercer Credit Associated Press. 
   
   Bonnie Schaan, the mother of Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, said that her daughter had been shot in the back during the massacre in her classroom. Tears welled up in her eyes as she explained that a bullet had clipped her daughter’s lung and lodged in one of her kidneys, which had to be removed. Cheyeanne, 16, a nursing student, remains in intensive care. 
   
   Mr. Harper-Mercer asked the young woman about her religion, according to her aunt, Colleen Fitzgerald, but “she didn’t answer.” Instead, Cheyeanne played dead next to her friend, Anastasia Boylan, a student who was also shot. Ms. Schaan said that her daughter did not know Mr. Harper-Mercer. After hearing the news about the shooting on campus, Ms. Schaan said she texted her daughter and said, “I’m on my way to school.” Instead she went to the hospital. 
   
   Cheyeanne has begun to talk with her father about the ordeal, Ms. Schaan said. Now, even a chair being moved unsettles her. Her mother added, “She’s mentioned all the blood.” 
   
   Dr. Jason Gray, the chief medical officer at Mercy Medical Center, said only two victims were still in the hospital. One was in critical condition and the other in fair condition. They were expected to be released in two to five days. 
   
   The hospital treated seven victims in total, Dr. Gray said. Two were released Thursday, four went into surgery and one died in the emergency department. Three other people were being treated for wounds at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in the town of Springfield. 
   
   On Friday, about 300 people showed up at Mercy Medical Center to donate blood, Dr. Gray said. The hospital set up a donation station nearby to handle the crowd. ||||| 
   
   
   
   The family of Oregon community college shooter Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer released a statement Saturday, saying they are “shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific events,” which resulted in 10 deaths, including that of their son. 
   
   “Our thoughts, our hearts and our prayers go out to all of the families of those who died and were injured,” the statement read, according to multiple news outlets. 
   
   Authorities say police officers arrived on the scene six minutes after receiving the first 911 call about the shooting, the Associated Press reports, and officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter two minutes later. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Saturday that the medical examiner’s office also determined that Mercer killed himself, according to the AP. 
   
   Mercer, who killed nine people at Umpqua Community College also left a “manifesto” for authorities, but the AP says officials did not reveal what was in it. 
   
   The police have yet to release a possible motive for the killings. 
   
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target: – Details are emerging on the grisly mass murder at an Oregon college—including reports that the shooter gave one "lucky" student a message for authorities before killing nine people and taking his own life, reports the AP. Gunman Christopher Harper-Mercer handed over an envelope and said that student "'was going to be the lucky one,'" according to the mother of a student who was shot and wounded in the spree. A pastor whose 18-year-old daughter wasn't injured told a similar story, with the gunman saying, "'Don't worry, you're the one who is going to survive,'" while the grandmother of a survivor said the "lucky" student was told to stand in a corner with the package. Authorities haven't confirmed, but one law enforcement source says a pages-long manifesto has been found. The pastor, Randy Scroggins, relayed other stories from his daughter—about how Harper-Mercer told one student to beg for her life but shot her anyway, and shot other students after telling them to crawl along the floor. Scroggins says his daughter only survived because another student's blood and body was lying on top of her. "He saved my girl," he said after talking to that student's mother. "I will forever call your son my hero." Other reports have Harper-Mercer targeting students in the writing class for being either Christian or religious. Meanwhile, the gunman's family released a statement saying they were "shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific events," Time reports, and the father said a change in gun laws could prevent future tragedies, the New York Times reports.