Father of Alleged Oregon Gunman, Chris Harper Mercer: I'm Just As Shocked As Anybody'

Chris Harper Mercer's stepsister, Carmen Nesnick, is in total shock following the shootings at Umpqua Community College

Photo: Courtesy The Guardian; MYSPACE

The father of the reported Umpqua Community College gunman says he’s horrified by allegations that his son killed nine people and wounded seven others in a mass shooting Thursday morning.

“I am just as shocked as anybody at what happened today” Ian Mercer, of Tarzana, California, told KTLA on Thursday night.

“I can’t answer any questions right now. I don’t want to answer any questions right now. Obviously, it’s been a devastating day, devastating for me and my family,” he told the news station.

Multiple reports have identified 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer as the shooter who opened fire on the community college campus outside the small city of Roseburg, Oregon.

He was killed in a classroom building after a shootout with police officers.

Mercer was born in the United Kingdom but moved to the U.S. as a young boy, his stepsister, Carmen Nesnick, told KCAL-TV.

“I’m actually still shaking and my mom is in there crying. I don’t know what to do,” Nesnick told the news station. Mercer’s father married Nesnick’s mother a few years ago.

“All he ever did was put everybody before himself. He wanted everyone to be happy. No matter if he was sad or mad, he would always try to cheer up everybody,” she said of her stepbrother – though she’d only met him a few times and had not spoken with him in about a year.

Nesnick also said Mercer was neither religious nor anti-religion, and that her family is Christian.

Mercer reportedly asked his victims to state their religion, before shooting them, according to reports.

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