Gunman in Oregon college shooting executed classmates, saying 'I'll see you soon'

Rand McGowan stayed still amid the gunfire.

The 18-year-old was in the writing class where a killer opened fire Thursday, killing nine at Umpqua Community College in Oregon's deadliest mass shooting.

McGowan told family members that the gunman didn't specifically target Christians but asked them about faith. The shooter, apparently planning to die during the massacre, told students: "I'll see you soon" or "I'll meet you soon."

McGowan's mother, Stephanie Salas, shared her son's account Friday. The teenager, one of triplet boys, was shot in the right hand and released from Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg.

McGowan heard gunshots before he knew what was happening, his mother said.

The 26-year-old gunman, Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer, told everyone to move toward the center of the room.

"The shooter would call a person: 'You, stand up,'" Salas said, recalling what her son told her. "And then he would ask them if they were a Christian, knew God, or had religion. And it wasn't like it was stated on TV. It wasn't about that he was just trying to pinpoint Christians, no."

The shooter would tell them it wouldn't hurt.

"And then he would shoot them," she said.

McGowan told his mom he kept his head down among students crouched in the middle of the classroom, didn't move and just tried to avoid looking at Harper-Mercer.

McGowan isn't sure how he got shot, she said. The gunman deliberately picked some people to shoot, but also sprayed bullets randomly, he told his mother.

At one point, Salas said, McGowan heard the shooter tell someone: "You, with the glasses, stand up."

His friend, Lucas Eibel, wore glasses and was among the students killed.

The shooter singled out one person in the room to live, McGowan told his mom. "I want you to be able to tell the cops about me, or something like that," Salas said of the directive.

Finally, at some point, the shooting stopped.

Police exchanged gunfire with the shooter and he was "neutralized," Douglas County sheriff's officials said.

McGowan told his mom that he saw the gunman dead on the classroom floor, perhaps from a self-inflicted wound to the head. He didn't see the shooter turn the gun on himself, she said, but he did see the body on the ground.

Students in the classroom recovered the gun and police entered about 20 seconds later, she said.

Salas, a single mother of four boys, said Rand was among three of her sons who were on campus Thursday.

He graduated from Roseburg High this year and was going to Umpqua Community College to study computer science. He likes to play the flute and guitar.

"He's recovering," Salas said. "He seems to be doing well. He's my quiet boy, so that's a little scary. Obviously, being in that, that can't be a good thing at all."

-- Brad Schmidt

Credtit:http://www.oregonlive.com/