Alexis Farrell, 5th Period: Oregon shooting survivor describes rampage in gunman's classroom

At Umpqua Community College on October 1st, nine people were killed and one person was injured because of gunman loose on campus. In the article, the authors reference a survivor from the shooting several times. The survivor, Matthew Downing, describes his feelings towards the event and the event itself in his comments. Downing begins by talking about how he didn't think this could be real when the gunman, Christopher Harper-Mercer, walked into his classroom. Harper-Mercer told the people in the classroom to get down on the ground and pulled out an envelope out of his bag. Then, Harper-Mercer told Downing that he was "the lucky one" and that if Downing took the envelope to the cops, he wouldn't be shot. The gunman proceeded by asking a student what his religion was and when the student claimed he was Christian, Harper-Mercer shot him. Shortly after, Harper-Mercer asked another student about his religion and when the student said he was Catholic but wasn't sure about afterlife, the gunman shot him. The article wasn't specific, but the authors claim that Harper-Mercer shot another girl in a desk through a desk. When the police arrived on the scene, "Harper-Mercer fired some shots outside the classroom" which led to exchanging gunfire with the police until an officer shot him. At this point, he laid down on the ground and shot himself. 

It's interesting to hear the story from the perspective of someone who was actually in the midst of the shooting. The in depth details allow the readers to really know how horrible this event was and how it affected several people. I read in another article that guns were prohibited from the campus shortly after this event. In my opinion, all schools should do the same because of all of the incidences in which a shooter has shown up at a school campus and taken innocent lives. Specifically, this shooting reminds me of a time in England when many people were being persecuted for their religion. After the Protestant Reformation, Puritans and Separatists where persecuted and even though they didn't get a death sentence, it was enough for them to leave. The Puritans were only trying to reform the Anglican Church and this caused them to be disliked and marginalized. I strongly believe that even if people have different religions, they should be able to live in peace together despite their conflicting beliefs.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/10/us/oregon-shooting-matthew-downing/index.html