PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) – Law enforcement in Oregon are asking people not to focus on the gunman, but the victims and heroes of a college massacre.
One of those heroes is an Army veteran who was shot seven times while running at the gunman.
Chris Mintz, 30, is a student at Umpqua Community College.
Mintz told his family he was trying to block a door to keep the gunman out when he was shot.
He says he looked up at the gunman and told him it was his son’s birthday, and that’s when the gunman shot him two more times.
Somehow Mintz survived and posted a picture of himself in his hospital bed on Facebook.
He has seven gunshots, two broken bones and a lot of rehabilitation ahead of him.
Ariana Earnhardt, Mintz’s cousin says, “his vital signs are okay he’s going to have to learn to walk again but he walked away with his life and that’s more than so many other people did.”
Mintz is from North Carolina but moved to Oregon after getting out of the Army.
Brandon Polamalu, cousin of former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, was working at the school during the shooting.
Polamalu was inside Snyder Hall when the shooting took place but was not harmed.
A doctor says one victim of the deadly shooting will likely be released from a hospital Friday.
Dr. Jason Gray of Mercy Medical Center says the hospital in Roseburg, which is 180 miles south of Portland, received 10 patients Thursday – one died, two were quickly treated and released and three were transferred to a hospital near Eugene for a higher level of care.
Of the four remaining patients, one was discharged late Thursday, and one was expected to leave Friday. Gray says the other two are expected to survive, but one remains in critical condition.
The three patients who needed additional care were transferred to PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. The Eugene-area hospital says in a news release that two of them are in critical condition and one is in serious condition.
Authorities investigating the shooting say they have found a number of firearms at the gunman’s apartment.
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin told television stations in Eugene, Oregon, early Friday that investigators were at Umpqua (UHMP’-kwah) Community College and the shooter’s nearby apartment throughout the night. He says investigators will release details on the number and types of weapons later Friday.
Officials identified the gunman as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer and say he opened fire at the college Thursday, killing nine people and wounding seven others before dying during an exchange of gunfire with officers.