"Bail denied for Mississippi couple accused of trying to join Islamic State; Suspects arrested at Miss. airport" by Jeff Amy Associated Press August 12, 2015
OXFORD, Miss. — A young Mississippi couple charged with attempting to join the Islamic State were ordered held without bail Tuesday, pending federal grand jury action on the charges.
Twenty-year-old Jaelyn Delshaun Young and 22-year-old Muhammad ‘‘Mo’’ Dakhlalla, who were arrested at a Mississippi airport just before boarding a flight with tickets bound for Istanbul, went before US Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander in Oxford Tuesday.
Alexander denied bail, saying that while Young and Dakhlalla have never been in trouble with the law and have relatives willing to oversee their home confinement, their desire to commit terrorism is ‘‘probably still there.’’
During the two-day hearing, prosecutors had urged Alexander to deny bail, citing statements Young and Dakhlalla made to undercover agents and handwritten farewell letters they left for their families saying they would never return.
Assistant US Attorney Clay Joyner likened them to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, saying that like him, they could commit violence with knives, vehicles, or homemade weapons.
‘‘They don’t need a gun to do harm,’’ Joyner said. ‘‘They don’t need military training to do harm. What they need is a violent, extremist ideology, and that’s exactly what they have espoused.’’
Alexander agreed that their apparent methodical planning overcame a recommendation by federal court personnel to allow pretrial release.
‘‘It was a very calculated, step-by-step thing,’’ Alexander said of the planning that led the pair to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport Saturday morning. FBI agents arrested them there, filing criminal charges that both were attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group, a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
An FBI agent’s affidavit said both confessed their plans after their arrest. Defense attorneys declined to comment after the hearing, but told Alexander the material didn’t prove either had committed a crime.
Court papers say both Young and Dakhlalla are US citizens.
Dakhlalla’s family is ‘‘absolutely stunned’’ by his arrest, said Columbus lawyer Dennis Harmon, who represents the family. He said they have been cooperating with the FBI.
Dakhlalla’s father, Oda H. Dakhlalla, is the longtime imam of the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville, Harmon said, and has previously been reported to be a native of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. His New Jersey-born mother, Lisa Dakhlalla, has run a restaurant in Starkville and sold Middle Eastern food at farmers’ markets.
Harmon said Dakhlalla was preparing to start graduate school at Mississippi State University.
Mississippi State spokesman Sid Salter said Dakhalla graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
!!!!!!!
Salter said Young was enrolled at the university until May as a sophomore chemistry major, but has not enrolled for classes since. Young, originally from Vicksburg, Miss., was a 2013 honors graduate from Warren Central High School, The Vicksburg Post reported.
!!!!!!!!
Young’s father, Leonce Young, is a 17-year veteran of the Vicksburg Police Department. He and his wife were present Tuesday for the hearing, but declined to speak to reporters afterward.
!!!!!!!
Related: Adams Terror Plot Absurd
So is this!
It's another mind-manipulating narrative reinforcement and stinks of complete fiction.
In court, prosecutors said that Jaelyn Young had been trying to convert her sister to Islam as well.
What an angel!
--more--"
So how long before a nuclear bomb explodes inside the United States?
(Notice how that slop comes out now, after Russia is attacking US asset ISIS™ in Syria using the Jewish mafia to frame them while telegraph the next big boom false flag).
Maybe ISIS™ was responsible for this:
Delta State U Site of Recent Active Shooter Drills; Remarkable Coincidences in Developing Story, Recent News Article on Delta’s Active Shooter Exercises Deleted From Web
It's ANOTHER CRISIS DRILL being presented as REAL and LIVE, readers!
Enjoy the cover story script, folks!
"Police say suspect in slaying on Miss. campus is dead" by Jeff Amy and Emily Wagster Pettus Associated Press September 15, 2015
CLEVELAND, Miss. — A college instructor suspected in the fatal shootings of a woman he lived with on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast and a professor at Delta State University 300 miles away was found dead Monday night, police said.
Delta State University Police Chief Lynn Buford said late Monday that Greenville police were following 45-year-old Shannon Lamb when Lamb pulled over, jumped out of his car, and ran.
Buford said police heard one gunshot and found Lamb with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. They took Lamb to the hospital in Greenville where Buford said he was pronounced dead.
During the first hours of the police search for Lamb, terrified students and teachers hunkered down in classrooms for hours. The Delta State campus was put on lockdown as armed officers methodically went through buildings, checking in closets, behind doors, and under tables and desks. The lockdown was lifted hours later, but security remained tight.
Investigators said Lamb, 45, is a suspect in the slayings of 41-year-old Amy Prentiss, who was found dead in the home she shared with Lamb in Gautier; and Ethan Schmidt, 39, a history professor who was killed in his office on campus in Cleveland.
Officers in the two cities said they had not uncovered a motive for either slaying.
Cleveland Police Chief Charles ‘‘Buster’’ Bingham said Lamb was considered armed and dangerous but was not believed to be on campus as of Monday evening, hours after Schmidt was slain.
Gautier Police Lieutenant Scott Wilson and another officer whose name was not given said during a news conference Monday in Gautier said they had spoken with Lamb.
Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Johnny Poulos said investigators were searching for a black 2011 Dodge Avenger that they believe Lamb was driving.
Lamb received a doctorate in education from Delta State University in the spring of 2015, according to the university’s website. He started working there in 2009 and taught geography and education classes, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, according to the site.
Delta State president Bill LaForge said Lamb was teaching two online classes this semester.
The 3,500-student university in Cleveland, in Mississippi’s Delta region near the Arkansas-Mississippi state line, was first put on lockdown around 10:45 a.m. amid reports of an active shooter.
Charlie King was in a history class down the hall from where the shooting occurred.
‘‘A few minutes into the class, we heard these popping noises and we all went completely silent,’’ he said.
Some people thought that it might be a desk or door closing or firecrackers, but King said he thought it sounded like gunshots. A few minutes later a police officer — gun drawn — burst into the windowless room and ordered everyone to get against the wall away from the door. Some people also hid in a storage closet, King said. The officer didn’t explain what was going on, but King said the students understood.
‘‘We put two and two together,’’ he said. The professor gave the students chairs to throw if the shooter came in, said King’s friend, Christopher Walker Todd.
Eventually police ushered the students into another building and questioned them about what they’d seen and how many shots they heard.
About two hours or so after the initial lockdown, about 25 heavily armed police officers swept through the building, teacher Charly Abraham said.
The slain professor directed the first-year seminar program and specialized in Native American and Colonial history, said Don Allan Mitchell, an English professor at the school, who called him ‘‘a gentleman in every sense of the word.’’
‘‘Dr. Ethan Schmidt was a terrific family man, a good friend, a true son of Peabody, Kansas, and his beloved Emporia State University,’’ he said.
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"Suspect in fatal shootings in Mississippi left apology, police said; Note, 911 call on first slaying held no hint on second" by Jeff Amy and Kevin McGill Associated Press September 16, 2015
GAUTIER, Miss. — A university instructor told police he killed his girlfriend at a home they shared, and investigators found a note there that said, ‘‘I am so sorry I wish I could take it back,’’ but there was no hint he was headed a few hundred miles north to kill a colleague, police said Tuesday.
Shannon Lamb called 911 on Monday, telling a dispatcher he had killed 41-year-old Amy Prentiss at the home they shared in Gautier, along the Gulf Coast. In the call, Lamb refuses to give his name but says that family contact information can be found on Prentiss’s phone. He also says that their dog is still in the house, and ‘‘he’s a sweet dog and he’s not going to bother anybody but I’m sure he’s upset.’’
When officers responded, they found the note written in all capital letters on a white, lined notepad, signed by Lamb. Its closing said: ‘‘I loved Amy and she is the only person who ever loved me.’’
Police say Lamb attacked again about 45 minutes after that Monday morning 911 call, this time shooting Delta State University professor Ethan Schmidt, 39, inside his office.
Schmidt, a history professor, was shot three times, in his neck, cheek, and near the right eye, while in the doorway of his office with a book bag on his shoulder, an indication that he was either entering or leaving, Bolivar County Deputy Coroner Murray Roark said.
Lamb killed himself hours later as police closed in on him. At some point after the shootings, he told family members he had no intention of going to jail. Relatives relayed that information to authorities.
Matt Hoggatt, a spokesman for Gautier police, said during a news conference Tuesday that Lamb had no criminal record, and there was no indication that he and Prentiss had of a history of criminal domestic violence involving Prentiss.
Police have not released a motive for either shooting.
Delta State president William LaForge said he didn’t know of any conflict between Lamb and Schmidt.
The acknowledgments in a book published by Schmidt say that he considered himself ‘‘so lucky to have such wonderful people to share my academic life with,’’ including Lamb.
Lamb had earlier asked for a medical leave of absence, but LaForge gave no further information about it.
The shooting led to an hours-long lockdown at the college in Cleveland, Miss., during which frightened students and faculty hid in classrooms and closets as authorities scoured the campus looking for Lamb. The campus was eventually cleared by police, and authorities found Lamb after an automated system picked up his car’s registration plate as he crossed a Mississippi River bridge from Arkansas back into Mississippi, Cleveland Police Chief Charles Bingham said.
Lamb killed himself with a single pistol shot to the forehead in a backyard near his parents’ home on the outskirts of Greenville, Miss., said Washington County Coroner Methel Johnson. He left his car still running in the driveway. Johnson said she believes he knew the people who lived there.
Lamb started working at the university, which has 3,500 students in a city of about 12,000, in 2009 and taught geography and education classes. He received a doctorate in education in the spring. He was teaching two online classes this semester, but an in-person class had been canceled, LaForge said.
Lamb’s career prospects at Delta State may have taken a turn because of a policy change.
After LaForge became president, he hired a new provost who ended a practice whereby an instructor who earned a doctorate could automatically join the tenure track.
Brandon Beavers, an education major, said he had a class with Lamb last year. ‘‘It was like that class you look forward to,’’ Beavers said. ‘‘It was just cool.’’
However, he said, Lamb seemed agitated.
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All makes for a great screenplay, huh?
Related:
Bill seeks to make police records at private colleges public
Noose threat in Miss. brings jail term
The frat boy admitted to undertaking the plan after a night of drinking in his frat house.
Also see: Oregon Shooting an Obvious Psyop
Yeah, I told you the fire drills would be going all year long.
Shooting in South Dakota
That's because of the marijuana that is freely available there.
"Survivor says gunman spared student to take package to police" by Gosia Wozniacka and Tami Abdollah Associated Press October 03, 2015
ROSEBURG, Ore. — As a 26-year-old killer gunned down victims inside a college classroom, he spared one student and gave him a package to deliver to authorities, according to the grandmother of a student who witnessed the deadly rampage in Oregon.
Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer later killed himself.
Authorities have not disclosed whether they have such a package, but a law enforcement official said a manifesto of several pages had been recovered. The official did not reveal the contents of the document 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.
However, conflicting reports emerged about Harper-Mercer’s words as he shot his victims.
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....
Yeah, there are a lot of questions about that.
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Related:
Amid horror of school shooting, pastors reach out to mourners
Manifesto reveals Oregon’s gunman’s frustration about not having a girlfriend
That's a new one, and it's really the best you guys could come up with? What sort of third-rate college dropouts with connections are writing that slop anyway?
The crisis actors sure did a good job, although they must be running short using them over and over like that. Reminds me of the old wrestling matches on TV. That's why some guys wore masks.
"DAILY SHOOTER: Inter-Agency Drill, Lone Gunman and ‘USB Manifesto’ at Oregon Campus Shooting
October 6, 2015
By Related: Shawn Helton
21st Century Wire
Another day, another Daily Shooter. Once again, we see evidence of another multi-agency drill held prior the event, as well as a number of other bizarre anomalies attached to this heavily dramatized mass-shooting said to have occurred at Umpqua Community College, near Roseburg, Oregon.
‘
OREGON SHOOTER’ – Chris Harper Mercer – coldblooded killer or another ‘active shooter’ patsy? (Photo youtube)
Early media reports stated that a 20-year-old male had fatally shot at least 13 people, but that was later downgraded to 10 fatalities including the gunman, with another seven injured before being changed again to 10 killed and nine wounded at the UCC campus. Eventually, the suspected gunman turned out to be 26-year old Chris Harper Mercer, who we were told repeatedly had been ‘neutralized’ (shot) by police during a gun battle on campus. However, 48-72 hours later, it was revealed that the ‘lone gunman’ Harper Mercer had committed suicide, dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Listen below to Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, as he describes the heavily coordinated law enforcement response shortly after the UCC incident. The clip also includes excerpts of the 911 police call…
According to authorities, they recovered 6 guns from the crime scene and said that Harper Mercer was wearing “body armor with metal plates” and a flak jacket, and “enough ammunition for a prolonged gunfight.”Harper Mercer was stated as owning or being in possession of at least 13 guns in total, including the guns found at his apartment. This has prompted some critics of the event to question how the gunman was able to obtain thousands of dollars in high-grade weaponry.
Interestingly, this mirrors the improbable James Holmes case, were the alleged shooter who was an unemployed student, had managed to procure over $10,000 in high grade weaponry and tactical military gear.
Shooter Linked to Military and Private Security Firm
In 2008, Harper Mercer also had a brief stint in the US Army. According to the Pentagon (believe it or not), Harper Mercer was enrolled in basic training for less than a month before being discharged for “failing to meet the minimum administrative standards to serve in the U.S. Army.”
In 2012 – 2013, he sought to join an organization called ‘Seven 4 Para’, described as ‘a private self-defense and law enforcement’ training academy in Torrance, CA. The narrative goes that he was “turned away” by the academy’s president and head instructor Elon Way.
“We wanted him to take a beginner safety course and he was trying to tell me that he already had experience with firearms and I didn’t get a good feeling about him, so I turned him down,” Mr. Way told Reuters.
“He was just kind of a weird guy and seemed kind of spoiled, immature,” Mr. Way added. “He was a little bit too anxious to get high-level training and there was no reason for it.”
A Fake Name?
Curiously, the police and the mainstream media appear to be concealing, or deflecting from the shooter’s true identity, as his real name appears to have been Christopher Sean Mercer. Moreover, why did the government-media complex change his to a hyphenated name, using Christopher Harper-Mercer and Chris Harper-Mercer? How come the US cannot be bothered to even confirm the actual name of the suspect?
Even more importantly, why is no media outlet showing any pictures of his alleged mother, Laurel Margaret Harper?
USATODAY revealed that a Federal law enforcement ‘source’ first confirmed the identity of the shooter but did not state how:
“A federal law enforcement source identified the gunman as a local Oregon man, Chris Mercer. The official said Mercer was armed with up to four firearms, including one [long] rifle. Investigators were interviewing his mother to try and determine what caused his rampage.”
‘UCC CAMPUS’ – Umpqua Community College: site of America’s latest ‘mass-shooting’ tragedy. (Photo TheWeatherSpace)
As this story continues to unfold, there are already a number of bizarre anomalies associated with the official narrative, most notably, the rash of conflicting media reports coming out since the shooting was said to have taken place on Thursday, October 1st at 10:37 am (PST ).
Unarmed Security & Active Shooter Drills
On October 1st, CBS news reported that “Joe Olson retired in June from his position as president of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.” And that “He [Olson] says last year, one of the biggest debates on campus was whether the school should have armed security officers. He says the college had three training exercises with local law agencies in the past two years, “but you can never be prepared for something like this.”
The shocking takeaway here, is that UCC “has only one security officer on duty at a time, and that person isn’t armed.”
How would it be possible for one unarmed security guard to protect a student body of 3,145?
On an interesting note, KOIN reported that “Most Oregon college campuses do not have armed security, but after 4 years of study the Portland State University security force became the latest to add guns.”The Trace, discusses the evolution of gun laws in Oregon over the last few years. Here is the following passage from their site:
“In 2011, the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned the Oregon University System’s longstanding ban of firearms on college campuses, allowing those with concealed carry permits to bring weapons on university grounds.
The following year, the Oregon Senate considered a bill that would have again prohibited the carrying of guns onto school, college, or university grounds in the state. That legislation lost by a single vote. The state Senator [Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg] who represents the city where Umpqua Community College is located was among the lawmakers voting against the measure.
No matter how you look at this issue, the relaxed and unarmed security of Oregon campuses appears to contradict the training scenarios of multi-agency drills.
According to BendBulletin, Jim Bennett, the interim director of campus safety at Central Oregon Community College campus held a multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional active shooter drill within the last year. COCC is located in Bend, Oregon, a little over three hours from UCC:
“Safety at COCC — Students and staff at Central Oregon Community College are trained to follow an emergency procedures plan, according to Jim Bennett, interim director of campus safety at Central Oregon Community College.”“The plan is available on the college’s website and outlines appropriate responses to various situations, such as bomb threats and civil disturbances, as well as shootings. Bennett said staff at COCC receive training specific to active shooter scenarios. A college emergency notification system is in place to alert students. Bennett said an active shooter situation at the college campus would require a multi-jurisdictional response from campus safety officials as well as local police and fire agencies.”
“Various police and fire agencies from Central Oregon participated in a large active shooter drill at the college about a year ago, executing a training scenario involving an active shooter in two campus buildings.”It was also revealed that on September 8th, COCC conducted a multi-agency ‘active shooter drill’, according to KTVZ:
“Several Central Oregon public safety agencies and school personnel took part Friday morning in a training scenario involving an “active shooter” on the Bend campus of Central Oregon Community College.”
“This training event provided an opportunity to evaluate responses, resources, equipment and local inter-agency cooperation, said Bend police Lt. Nick Parker.”
“The scanner traffic was indeed dramatic, involving several campus buildings and at least two different reported “gunmen.” An early report was of seven shots fired and two people hit, two with critical wounds. “Hostages” were taken, at least one suspect was “down” and officers cleared rooms and buildings, also working in the basements (with a K-9 unit) and on the roofs to make sure all was safe.”On February 27th, 2015, the Oregon Department of Corrections also held an active shooter drill and that “designated staff will fire blanks as part of the exercise.”
Over the past year, it seems that Oregon has become a veritable hot-bed for multi-agency ‘fusion drills’. In recent history, it appears that Oregon has become a ‘virtual playground’ for certain military related operations. The extent of this was revealed by former US prosecutor John Loftus, who was on record stating that Haroon Rashid Aswat, who was described as the mastermind of London’s 7/7 bombings, was a ‘double agent’ working for MI6, and that he evaded extradition to the US for his role in providing military training at a militant facility in Dog Cry Ranch Oregon in 1999. In October of 2014, Aswat was finally extradited back to the US to face terror related charges for his role in the 1999 Oregon facility.
How would it be possible for the US government not to know about a facility such as this being erected within its own borders?
‘LIGHTNING SPEED': A heavily coordinated emergency effort in such a short period of time. Notice the matching, color-coordinated pink T-shirts. (Photo Citizens Voice)
‘Rapid’ Emergency Response
Below is a timeline of events according to OregonLive.com that subsequently contradict other police statements made about the time frame of the shooting:
“10:37 a.m.: Dispatchers receive a report of shots fired on the Umpqua Community College campus in Roseburg. Initial details are scant, but dispatchers immediately report at least one female shot inside Snyder Hall.
10:42 a.m.: Two additional ambulances are requested as police begin arriving on campus.
10:43 a.m.: As details emerge, responding officers identify the shooter as a male, and say he is located on the southeast side of the building.
10:44 a.m.: Officers report exchanging gunshots with the shooter. Unconfirmed reports from the 9-1-1 dispatch indicate “he’s got a long gun.” There are reportedly 35 people in Snyder Hall, and the campus is now on lockdown. Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg has been notified to prepare for patients.
10:46 a.m.: Officers report “Code 4, suspect is down.”
Additionally, “According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Twitter account, Thursday’s shooting is a “mass-casualty event.” Their protocols for mass-casualty events require that they not release names for 24 to 48 hours.”
If this indeed is true, why were names released in less than 24 hours after the mass-casualty event occurred?
Additionally, there’s been some confusion concerning the time frame of the UCC shooting, as some have officials stated that the entire event lasted only 3-4 minutes, instead of a total incident time frame of 9 minutes listed above. But regardless of the time frame discrepancy, it was without a doubt an uncanny response time for any type of emergency – especially when you consider that the 911 call was made very shortly after shooting began, and that officers were able to drive from their previous location and secure the scene at Snyder Hall in less than 10 minutes.
Also according to OregonLive, many victims arrived at Mercy Medical Center while others were transferred to PeaceHealth. Additionally, a unnamed doctor for Mercy Medical disclosed the following commentary as victims were being transported for treatment:
“The best way to describe it is controlled chaos. We practice and we do drills.”
On April 10th of 2015, Mercy Medical Center had scheduled an Emergency Preparedness Drill according to their own website.
No motive, but multiple ‘manifestos’
According to a recent article published at IB Times, the motive in the UCC shooting is still very much unknown to investigators:
“Officials have not yet identified a motive in the shooting that took nine lives and injured at least 10 more on the fourth day of fall semester at the community college Thursday. Witnesses have suggested that the shooter sought to target Christians, while officials have traced his interest in mass shooters and antipathy toward organized religion, according to the Washington Post.”
One mainstream media report said he left behind a “multipage, hate-filled” statement in the classroom – an NBC reporter tweeted, citing only “law enforcement sources”.
Then CNN reported that his writings had revealed “hatred” toward black men (an odd claim, considering the shooter was black), as well as how he was “frustrated” Mercer was not being able to find a girlfriend and being a “virgin”.
As investigators have been searching for a clear motive since Thursday, CBS news revealed an novel new twist to an already complex case:
“One of the wounded said Harper-Mercer handed a package of some kind to one of the victims, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.”
“Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer spared one student dubbed by CNN as “The Lucky One”, allegedly handing him a mystery package ‘to deliver to the police’, according to the mother of a student who witnessed Thursday’s rampage. According to CNN, the box contained a ‘flash drive’ that contained all of Mercer’s “writings”.
That student, Matthew Downing, was only identified by his mother, Summer Smith (again, a mother and son with different family names), as part of a heavily produced feature which ran on CNN on Oct. 5th.
“Lucky One” Matthew Downing (wearing glasses) next to his mother Summer Smith (wearing black) at an evangelical church service after shooting led by flamboyant Pastor Randy Scroggins, head of the New Beginnings Church of God in Roseburg. Scroggins said his daughter Lacey (wearing green) also ‘survived’ the shooting at Umpqua College. Scroggins told the AP the gunman told her son ”go to the back of the room and sit down, facing all of us, and you’re gonna watch.” (Photo AP/Daily Mail)
ABC news continues: “Bonnie Schaan, the mother of 16-year-old Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, said she was told by her daughter that the gunman gave someone an envelope and told him to go to a corner of the classroom.”
‘DRAMATIC EFFECT’ – Pastor Randy Scroggins following his theatrical sermon on Saturday. (Photo: AP/Daily Mail)
It just so happened that the Pastor’s own 18 year old daughter, Lacey, is said to be a survivor of the mass shooting. According to the Pastor, his daughter survived because she was lying on the floor pretending to be dead, partially covered by the body of a fellow student. Lacey escaped without any physical injuries, said she told him that the gunman called to student Matthew Downing, saying:
“‘Don’t worry, you’re the one who is going to survive.'”‘Sectarian’ Religious Theme
There have been conflicting accounts of Harper-Mercer’s words inside the classroom, and what he may have meant by them. Some ‘survivors’ claim that the gunman asked students, ‘Who is Christian?’ and then shot them, while other students he continued to execute others, doing so randomly. A number of high-profile US media pundits, like Glenn Beck, immediately announced that the dead students we ‘Christian Martyrs’. Predictably, this part of the story prompted a viral hashtag frenzy on Twitter #IamAChristian.
According the Pastor’s second-hand account of events (and not his daughter’s), Harper-Mercer had told Matthew Downing that inside the shooter’s backpack was “all the information that you’ll need. Give it to the police.”
It is a completely improbable sidebar to the Umpqua College story, but is the “lucky one” chapter just another red herring meant to close up loose ends in the Oregon shooting narrative – creating a motive via computer hard drive data? It’s a bizarre twist to say the least, and one that makes little if any sense in an age of social media – where anyone can publish their own “manifesto”. Possible yes, but hardly probable.
‘MADE FOR TV’ – It has been alleged that Harper-Mercer sought the ‘limelight’ of Virginia TV reporter shooter – Vester Flanagan/Bryce Williams. (Photo Breitbart)
Oddly, Harper Mercer referenced that last major Daily Shooter, Roanoke’s Vester Lee Flanagan, and commented on Flanagan’s virtual rise to fame. Chris Harper Mercer is alleged to have said the following:
“I have noticed that so many people like [Flanagan] are alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems like the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”
Few pundits have dared to challenge the validity of this posting attributed to Harper Mercer. A skeptic might view this written passage as extremely trite and contrived as to fit perfectly into a pre-packaged media narrative of the Daily Shooter. Nonetheless, it’s a perfect example of how the media have seized on an online posting in order to stitch together a virtual conviction of guilt.
It’s also worth pointing out here how a similar posting referencing a previous Daily Shooter, Dylan Storm Roof of Charleston South Carolina, was attributed to the alleged Roanoke shooter Vester Lee Flanagan. In a bizarre ‘manifesto’ that was allegedly sent by Flanagan via FAX to ABC News at nearly exact time of the shooting, Flanagan is said to have written this:
“Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15…” Flanagan wrote. “What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.”
Again, no news pundit has dared to challenge this nonsensical posting attributed to Vester Lee Flanagan – one which provides an apparent motive and secures the all-important ‘virtual conviction’ that fits perfectly into a pre-packaged media narrative of the Daily Shooter.
Trial By Social Media: Online ‘Persona’ of a Mass-Shooter
Big Media appears to have worked out their own formula for laying out a familiar series of the polarizing political points in the aftermath of any ‘tragic’ mass-shooting. Roseburg was no different. And it appears that once again, the public has been purposefully redirected to look at a ready-made digital laundry list of hateful rhetoric, random writings, anonymous social media rants and obscure online dating profiles – none of which clearly indicate, much less fully explain any discernible motive for the crime. Instead, the entire exercise quickly descends into an orgy of mainstream media speculation and theorizing, as well as playing on emotive stereotyping.
All too often we see the ‘online persona’ of any alleged killer being touted as hard evidence, despite the fact that even strong circumstantial evidence of any apparent crime would likely result in many hours of analysis and debate, potentially without a definitive conclusion, even if the evidence eventually reached a court room setting.
What protocols does law enforcement have in place when investigating digital forensics or determining who posted certain artifacts on the various online sites, wouldn’t this process take a considerable amount of time to prove?
And how is it that the media gets away with dispensing these postings as definitive proof after every mass-shooting event?
By enacting this process, the new trend of ‘trial by social media’ allows law enforcement and media to quickly bypass any real investigation, and ultimately due process.
The result is that the mainstream media will speak and act as though a ‘trial by social media’ automatically leads to a foregone conclusion, long before all of the evidence has been properly reviewed. The level of standard for media outlets is in a rapid decline, as they no longer conduct any real investigation, preferring instead to wait for the official press conference for all of their information – and their easy job seems to have gotten much easier.
On a 24/7 loop, the public is subjected the media’s focus on speculative commentary and emotionally charged images.
This is the new formula for mass media coverage, a new political commodity and trial by social media equates to a ‘virtual’ conviction, inducing a kind of cognitive dissonance for passive audiences, which often blocks viewers from considering another perspective following a traumatic event. This type of new disposable propaganda has become the doorway for all hot button socio-political issues including ‘gun control/reform’ and for those concerned over ‘mental illness’ background checks. Once again, the media plays a crucial role – not in informing and educating the public, or investigating crime, or (god forbid) questioning the state’s methods and motives in any high-profile event – but rather, jamming up the public’s ability to use deductive reasoning in the aftermath of any apparent crime.It should be obvious by now how events like Oregon, along with other ‘mass-shootings’, become a serrated catalyst to usher in calls for endless new protocols for ‘security’, inter-agency fusion, emergency medical procedures, and also for injecting more and more military terminology into civilian life.
One key feature of every single press conference immediately following a mass shooting is that lead officials will begin the presentation boasting about how quick response times were and how well federal, state and local agencies ‘worked together’, and they will also name each individual department head and mention the federal grant program. Even in the face of an apparent tragedy, the priority always seems to be the promotion of named executives and funding allocations. It’s almost like a PSA for Department of Homeland Security fusion protocols.
The Dark Net
Additionally, over the last few days we’ve seen a flood of strange side stories concerning the UCC shooting, as the message board and popular hacker hangout site, 4chan, seemed to surface as the starting point regarding this story, as random Twitter feeds vaguely linked an ‘ISIS meme’ to this event but without any clear evidence.
Evidence of advanced knowledge of the Oregon shooting event surfaced on 4chan. The following is passage is from Salon that discusses the suspicious alert prior to the UCC campus shooting:
“Federal officials announced they were investigating a recent 4chan exchange that appeared to predict the rampage. In a cryptic post on the /r9k board on Wednesday, an anonymous poster with an image of Pepe the Frog holding a gun reportedly posted, “Some of you guys are alright. Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest. happening thread will be posted tomorrow morning. so long space robots.”4chan has been rife with controversy since its inception, as some critics think it may indeed be a limited hangout for the intelligence community. And due to the suspect nature of the website, a bevy of internet researchers have questioned the highly orchestrated law enforcement response in the aftermath of the UCC shooting via the apparent 4chan warning.
‘CAMPUS HERO’ – Wounded victim pictured smiling above, was said to have been shot 5-7 times at close range whilst unarmed during the UCC shooting, while apparently heroically saving other students. (Photo twitter)
Additionally, a dramatic tale of heroism emerged following the apparent mass-shooting event. Military veteran Chris Mintz.
Interestingly, during the early media coverage of the Roseburg event, a person looking identical to Mintz seems to have appeared in a still photo gleaned from a news reel shot of student bystanders gathered at Umpqua College (photo, below).
UNCONFIRMED: Is this the same person in both photos?
A GoFundMe page set-up to solicit donations for Mintz has already raised $765,606. It’s expected to hit $1,000,000 by the end of this week.
‘TAKING AN OATH’ – Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin. (Photo ohio)
Media Propaganda & Sidebar Scripting
According to Talking Points Memo and other major media outlets:
“The sheriff investigating a mass shooting at an Oregon community college that left at least nine people dead posted a video to Facebook in 2013 that raised questions about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.”Additionally, constitutionally-oriented Sheriff John Hanlin is said to have personally written a letter to Vice President Joe Biden two days after the Facebook post (seen below). CNN and other outlets were quick to discredit Hanlin as a “conspiracy theorist.”
“Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings,” Hanlin wrote in the letter. “Any actions against, or in disregard for our U.S. Constitution and 2nd Amendment rights by the current administration would be irresponsible and an indisputable insult to the American people.”
‘DIVERSION’ – Did Hanlin’s Sandy Hook post put a spotlight on him? (Photo TPM)
As we have two anomalies here, then one must consider that this is more than just a coincidence. So it’s fair to ask at this point, is Hanlin, or the views he represents, being targeted by the Establishment in some way?
Last Action Hero
Today.com reveals another uncanny coincidence concerning the UCC campus shooting:
“Yet another shooting hits close to home for Alek Skarlatos, the hero who helped stop a gunman on a Paris-bound train traveling from Amsterdam in August.”
“Skarlatos, an Army National Guardsman, was enrolled in classes at Umpqua Community College, where a shooting took 13 lives on Thursday, before agreeing to become a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars.”
The Daily Shooter had previously covered the Paris Train Event and the involvement of newly decorated American Hero and military reservist Alek Skarlatos back in August. Many pundits have speculated that the Roseburg event was Jihad-connected because Harper Mercer had ‘friended’ an alleged ‘ISIS’ avatar on his defunct Myspace social media account, that Harper Mercer has carried out a religious attack at Umpqua College, with certain online personalities even going so far as to speculate that Harper Mercer was at Umpqua to ‘hunt down’ Skarlatos to avenge the Paris Train event. More than anything, this line of conjecture appears to be a red-herring that falls neatly into the ‘fear the Muslim’ category being pushed by certain media outlets.
Obama and Skarlatos (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Much more interesting however, is how quickly Alek Skarlatos has been firmly implanted as a “celebrity” in the media, and like ALL mainstream celebrities – he’s now functioning as a media commodity for the Establishment – and used as a media prop to advance various issues and narratives through TV and super-market stand magazines – even taking personal phone calls from President Obama himself – is it possible that military hero-man Skarlatos could emerge as an advocate for ‘Gun Conrol’ on behalf of the White House? This would be a mean feat for Obama, considering the numerous postings on social media of Skarlatos posing with all manner of high-caliber guns and tactical equipment. Here are a few:
‘SERIOUS MUG’ – Skarlatos posing with one of many shot-guns and weapons on Facebook.
‘
OREGON SNIPER’ – A young Skarlatos showing off some of his long-range skills on Facebook.
This week, Skarlatos appeared on the Ellen Show, which will aired today Monday, alongside with his “Dancing With the Stars” partner Lindsay Arnold, where he described the details of the Paris shooting, and also spoke about how he felt knowing he could’ve been on campus at Umpqua Community College:
“I would’ve been there today if I didn’t agree to do this show,” Skarlatos said. “I had classes picked out and everything.”
Coincidentally, Obama had visited the small town of Roseburg back in May 2008 at US Senator while campaigning for the president. He held a series of town hall meetings in Roseburg, Pendleton, and a rally in Portland, Oregon.
The President’s ‘Gun Reform’ Agenda
In addition, a bevy of potential new laws will fill the conversational vacuum – in what appears to be a very deliberate attempt to radically manipulate public opinion in the wake of a tragedy. Never was this more obvious than with this Roseburg Shooting. President Obama wasted no time (roughly 4 hours after the actual shooting) to call a national press conference where he decreed that he will henceforth be “politicizing” each mass shooting event in order to push forward his own agenda on gun reform in America.
“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough”, and “This is something we should politicize,” said US president Barack Obama from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, named after the man wounded in the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan. For decades, Brady has been the national touchstone for gun control issue.
Obama continued, “I’d ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws, and to save these lives and let these people grow up.” He then leveled an attack against the National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbying group, stating, “And I would particularly ask America’s gun owners who are using those guns properly, safely, to hunt for sport, for protecting their families, to think about whether your views are being properly represented by the organization that suggests it is speaking for you.” See his full speech here.
Other mainstream media outlets quickly began lining-up behind the president’s political juggernaut. The Washington Post ran with, “Is this the mass shooting that will finally shame us into acting?“
Time.com posted President Obama’s entire address delivered from the James Brady press room in the following the campus shooting at UCC on Thursday. Here is a short passage from his speech:
“The United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws — even in the face of repeated mass killings.” And later that day, there was a mass shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. That day!”As previously mentioned at 21WIRE, following the highly suspicious shooting at Grand Theater in Lafayette, according to the ‘Mass Shooting Tracker’ the definition of a mass-shooting event has changed to include a larger number of shootings. The Washington Post published an article listing the apparent number of mass shootings in America including the new tracking methods.
There is no doubt that this new method of looking at the gun-related statistics, will invoke a more emotionally charged response for maximum effect.
With each new shooting event there will be calls for tighter gun restrictions, and given Obama’s legacy interview with the BBC this past August – which just happened to coincide (uncanny timing) with the Lafayette Movie Theater Shooting - he reminded us of his motive:
“This is not something that I [Barack Obama] intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months.“
Do not forget this speech by Obama’s political and ideological compatriot and former Attorney General Eric Holder, who spelled out the social agenda in back in 1995, admitting that Washington must ‘brainwash’ the public into accepting their gun control agenda:
Repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act
Consider Holder’s extraordinary comments. If you think that your government wouldn’t dare lie to the public, or run a psychological warfare operation in full view in a domestic theater - think again. After the repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act - it’s all legal now:
“Congress was quietly planning to lift a 64-year-old law preventing the US government from using propaganda on its own citizenry. Before the House passed its defense budget bill Friday afternoon, Hastings reported, a bipartisan group of congressmen tacked on an amendment that would “essentially neutralize” a set of time-tested guidelines “that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government’s misinformation campaigns.”
END OF PART ONE – Stay tuned for more information on this event.
--MORE w/VIDEOS--"
Another day, another Daily Shooter. Once again, we see evidence of another multi-agency drill held prior the event, as well as a number of other bizarre anomalies attached to this heavily dramatized mass-shooting said to have occurred at Umpqua Community College, near Roseburg, Oregon.
‘OREGON SHOOTER’ – Chris Harper Mercer – coldblooded killer or another ‘active shooter’ patsy? (Photo youtube)
Early media reports stated that a 20-year-old male had fatally shot at least 13 people, but that was later downgraded to 10 fatalities including the gunman, with another seven injured before being changed again to 10 killed and nine wounded at the UCC campus. Eventually, the suspected gunman turned out to be 26-year old Chris Harper Mercer, who we were told repeatedly had been ‘neutralized’ (shot) by police during a gun battle on campus. However, 48-72 hours later, it was revealed that the ‘lone gunman’ Harper Mercer had committed suicide, dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Listen below to Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, as he describes the heavily coordinated law enforcement response shortly after the UCC incident. The clip also includes excerpts of the 911 police call…
According to authorities, they recovered 6 guns from the crime scene and said that Harper Mercer was wearing “body armor with metal plates” and a flak jacket, and “enough ammunition for a prolonged gunfight.”Harper Mercer was stated as owning or being in possession of at least 13 guns in total, including the guns found at his apartment. This has prompted some critics of the event to question how the gunman was able to obtain thousands of dollars in high-grade weaponry.
Interestingly, this mirrors the improbable James Holmes case, were the alleged shooter who was an unemployed student, had managed to procure over $10,000 in high grade weaponry and tactical military gear.
Shooter Linked to Military and Private Security Firm
In 2008, Harper Mercer also had a brief stint in the US Army. According to the Pentagon (believe it or not), Harper Mercer was enrolled in basic training for less than a month before being discharged for “failing to meet the minimum administrative standards to serve in the U.S. Army.”
In 2012 – 2013, he sought to join an organization called ‘Seven 4 Para’, described as ‘a private self-defense and law enforcement’ training academy in Torrance, CA. The narrative goes that he was “turned away” by the academy’s president and head instructor Elon Way.
“We wanted him to take a beginner safety course and he was trying to tell me that he already had experience with firearms and I didn’t get a good feeling about him, so I turned him down,” Mr. Way told Reuters.
“He was just kind of a weird guy and seemed kind of spoiled, immature,” Mr. Way added. “He was a little bit too anxious to get high-level training and there was no reason for it.”
A Fake Name?
Curiously, the police and the mainstream media appear to be concealing, or deflecting from the shooter’s true identity, as his real name appears to have been Christopher Sean Mercer. Moreover, why did the government-media complex change his to a hyphenated name, using Christopher Harper-Mercer and Chris Harper-Mercer? How come the US cannot be bothered to even confirm the actual name of the suspect?
Even more importantly, why is no media outlet showing any pictures of his alleged mother, Laurel Margaret Harper?
USATODAY revealed that a Federal law enforcement ‘source’ first confirmed the identity of the shooter but did not state how:
“A federal law enforcement source identified the gunman as a local Oregon man, Chris Mercer. The official said Mercer was armed with up to four firearms, including one [long] rifle. Investigators were interviewing his mother to try and determine what caused his rampage.”
‘UCC CAMPUS’ – Umpqua Community College: site of America’s latest ‘mass-shooting’ tragedy. (Photo TheWeatherSpace)
As this story continues to unfold, there are already a number of bizarre anomalies associated with the official narrative, most notably, the rash of conflicting media reports coming out since the shooting was said to have taken place on Thursday, October 1st at 10:37 am (PST ).
Unarmed Security & Active Shooter Drills
On October 1st, CBS news reported that “Joe Olson retired in June from his position as president of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.” And that “He [Olson] says last year, one of the biggest debates on campus was whether the school should have armed security officers. He says the college had three training exercises with local law agencies in the past two years, “but you can never be prepared for something like this.”
The shocking takeaway here, is that UCC “has only one security officer on duty at a time, and that person isn’t armed.”
How would it be possible for one unarmed security guard to protect a student body of 3,145?
On an interesting note, KOIN reported that “Most Oregon college campuses do not have armed security, but after 4 years of study the Portland State University security force became the latest to add guns.”The Trace, discusses the evolution of gun laws in Oregon over the last few years. Here is the following passage from their site:
“In 2011, the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned the Oregon University System’s longstanding ban of firearms on college campuses, allowing those with concealed carry permits to bring weapons on university grounds.
The following year, the Oregon Senate considered a bill that would have again prohibited the carrying of guns onto school, college, or university grounds in the state. That legislation lost by a single vote. The state Senator [Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg] who represents the city where Umpqua Community College is located was among the lawmakers voting against the measure.
No matter how you look at this issue, the relaxed and unarmed security of Oregon campuses appears to contradict the training scenarios of multi-agency drills.
According to BendBulletin, Jim Bennett, the interim director of campus safety at Central Oregon Community College campus held a multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional active shooter drill within the last year. COCC is located in Bend, Oregon, a little over three hours from UCC:
“Safety at COCC — Students and staff at Central Oregon Community College are trained to follow an emergency procedures plan, according to Jim Bennett, interim director of campus safety at Central Oregon Community College.”“The plan is available on the college’s website and outlines appropriate responses to various situations, such as bomb threats and civil disturbances, as well as shootings. Bennett said staff at COCC receive training specific to active shooter scenarios. A college emergency notification system is in place to alert students. Bennett said an active shooter situation at the college campus would require a multi-jurisdictional response from campus safety officials as well as local police and fire agencies.”
“Various police and fire agencies from Central Oregon participated in a large active shooter drill at the college about a year ago, executing a training scenario involving an active shooter in two campus buildings.”It was also revealed that on September 8th, COCC conducted a multi-agency ‘active shooter drill’, according to KTVZ:
“Several Central Oregon public safety agencies and school personnel took part Friday morning in a training scenario involving an “active shooter” on the Bend campus of Central Oregon Community College.”
“This training event provided an opportunity to evaluate responses, resources, equipment and local inter-agency cooperation, said Bend police Lt. Nick Parker.”
“The scanner traffic was indeed dramatic, involving several campus buildings and at least two different reported “gunmen.” An early report was of seven shots fired and two people hit, two with critical wounds. “Hostages” were taken, at least one suspect was “down” and officers cleared rooms and buildings, also working in the basements (with a K-9 unit) and on the roofs to make sure all was safe.”On February 27th, 2015, the Oregon Department of Corrections also held an active shooter drill and that “designated staff will fire blanks as part of the exercise.”
Over the past year, it seems that Oregon has become a veritable hot-bed for multi-agency ‘fusion drills’. In recent history, it appears that Oregon has become a ‘virtual playground’ for certain military related operations. The extent of this was revealed by former US prosecutor John Loftus, who was on record stating that Haroon Rashid Aswat, who was described as the mastermind of London’s 7/7 bombings, was a ‘double agent’ working for MI6, and that he evaded extradition to the US for his role in providing military training at a militant facility in Dog Cry Ranch Oregon in 1999. In October of 2014, Aswat was finally extradited back to the US to face terror related charges for his role in the 1999 Oregon facility.
How would it be possible for the US government not to know about a facility such as this being erected within its own borders?
‘LIGHTNING SPEED': A heavily coordinated emergency effort in such a short period of time. Notice the matching, color-coordinated pink T-shirts. (Photo Citizens Voice)
‘Rapid’ Emergency Response
Below is a timeline of events according to OregonLive.com that subsequently contradict other police statements made about the time frame of the shooting:
“10:37 a.m.: Dispatchers receive a report of shots fired on the Umpqua Community College campus in Roseburg. Initial details are scant, but dispatchers immediately report at least one female shot inside Snyder Hall.
10:42 a.m.: Two additional ambulances are requested as police begin arriving on campus.
10:43 a.m.: As details emerge, responding officers identify the shooter as a male, and say he is located on the southeast side of the building.
10:44 a.m.: Officers report exchanging gunshots with the shooter. Unconfirmed reports from the 9-1-1 dispatch indicate “he’s got a long gun.” There are reportedly 35 people in Snyder Hall, and the campus is now on lockdown. Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg has been notified to prepare for patients.
10:46 a.m.: Officers report “Code 4, suspect is down.”
Additionally, “According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Twitter account, Thursday’s shooting is a “mass-casualty event.” Their protocols for mass-casualty events require that they not release names for 24 to 48 hours.”
If this indeed is true, why were names released in less than 24 hours after the mass-casualty event occurred?
Additionally, there’s been some confusion concerning the time frame of the UCC shooting, as some have officials stated that the entire event lasted only 3-4 minutes, instead of a total incident time frame of 9 minutes listed above. But regardless of the time frame discrepancy, it was without a doubt an uncanny response time for any type of emergency – especially when you consider that the 911 call was made very shortly after shooting began, and that officers were able to drive from their previous location and secure the scene at Snyder Hall in less than 10 minutes.
Also according to OregonLive, many victims arrived at Mercy Medical Center while others were transferred to PeaceHealth. Additionally, a unnamed doctor for Mercy Medical disclosed the following commentary as victims were being transported for treatment:
“The best way to describe it is controlled chaos. We practice and we do drills.”
On April 10th of 2015, Mercy Medical Center had scheduled an Emergency Preparedness Drill according to their own website.
No motive, but multiple ‘manifestos’
According to a recent article published at IB Times, the motive in the UCC shooting is still very much unknown to investigators:
“Officials have not yet identified a motive in the shooting that took nine lives and injured at least 10 more on the fourth day of fall semester at the community college Thursday. Witnesses have suggested that the shooter sought to target Christians, while officials have traced his interest in mass shooters and antipathy toward organized religion, according to the Washington Post.”
One mainstream media report said he left behind a “multipage, hate-filled” statement in the classroom – an NBC reporter tweeted, citing only “law enforcement sources”.
Then CNN reported that his writings had revealed “hatred” toward black men (an odd claim, considering the shooter was black), as well as how he was “frustrated” Mercer was not being able to find a girlfriend and being a “virgin”.
As investigators have been searching for a clear motive since Thursday, CBS news revealed an novel new twist to an already complex case:
“One of the wounded said Harper-Mercer handed a package of some kind to one of the victims, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.”
“Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer spared one student dubbed by CNN as “The Lucky One”, allegedly handing him a mystery package ‘to deliver to the police’, according to the mother of a student who witnessed Thursday’s rampage. According to CNN, the box contained a ‘flash drive’ that contained all of Mercer’s “writings”.
That student, Matthew Downing, was only identified by his mother, Summer Smith (again, a mother and son with different family names), as part of a heavily produced feature which ran on CNN on Oct. 5th.
“Lucky One” Matthew Downing (wearing glasses) next to his mother Summer Smith (wearing black) at an evangelical church service after shooting led by flamboyant Pastor Randy Scroggins, head of the New Beginnings Church of God in Roseburg. Scroggins said his daughter Lacey (wearing green) also ‘survived’ the shooting at Umpqua College. Scroggins told the AP the gunman told her son ”go to the back of the room and sit down, facing all of us, and you’re gonna watch.” (Photo AP/Daily Mail)
ABC news continues: “Bonnie Schaan, the mother of 16-year-old Cheyeanne Fitzgerald, said she was told by her daughter that the gunman gave someone an envelope and told him to go to a corner of the classroom.”
‘DRAMATIC EFFECT’ – Pastor Randy Scroggins following his theatrical sermon on Saturday. (Photo: AP/Daily Mail)
It just so happened that the Pastor’s own 18 year old daughter, Lacey, is said to be a survivor of the mass shooting. According to the Pastor, his daughter survived because she was lying on the floor pretending to be dead, partially covered by the body of a fellow student. Lacey escaped without any physical injuries, said she told him that the gunman called to student Matthew Downing, saying:
“‘Don’t worry, you’re the one who is going to survive.'”‘Sectarian’ Religious Theme
There have been conflicting accounts of Harper-Mercer’s words inside the classroom, and what he may have meant by them. Some ‘survivors’ claim that the gunman asked students, ‘Who is Christian?’ and then shot them, while other students he continued to execute others, doing so randomly. A number of high-profile US media pundits, like Glenn Beck, immediately announced that the dead students we ‘Christian Martyrs’. Predictably, this part of the story prompted a viral hashtag frenzy on Twitter #IamAChristian.
“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.”
Not surprisingly, Pastor Scroggins seized on this sectarian theme while delivering his firey sermon. He told his congregation:
“We have shown up here to say, violence will not have the last word in Roseburg… God will have the last word!”
‘THE LUCKY ONE?’ – Why did the media and authorities sit on this element of the story for 2 days? (Photo Daily Mail)
Not surprisingly, Pastor Scroggins seized on this sectarian theme while delivering his firey sermon. He told his congregation:
“We have shown up here to say, violence will not have the last word in Roseburg… God will have the last word!”
‘THE LUCKY ONE?’ – Why did the media and authorities sit on this element of the story for 2 days? (Photo Daily Mail)
According the Pastor’s second-hand account of events (and not his daughter’s), Harper-Mercer had told Matthew Downing that inside the shooter’s backpack was “all the information that you’ll need. Give it to the police.”
It is a completely improbable sidebar to the Umpqua College story, but is the “lucky one” chapter just another red herring meant to close up loose ends in the Oregon shooting narrative – creating a motive via computer hard drive data? It’s a bizarre twist to say the least, and one that makes little if any sense in an age of social media – where anyone can publish their own “manifesto”. Possible yes, but hardly probable.
‘MADE FOR TV’ – It has been alleged that Harper-Mercer sought the ‘limelight’ of Virginia TV reporter shooter – Vester Flanagan/Bryce Williams. (Photo Breitbart)
Oddly, Harper Mercer referenced that last major Daily Shooter, Roanoke’s Vester Lee Flanagan, and commented on Flanagan’s virtual rise to fame. Chris Harper Mercer is alleged to have said the following:
“I have noticed that so many people like [Flanagan] are alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems like the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”
Few pundits have dared to challenge the validity of this posting attributed to Harper Mercer. A skeptic might view this written passage as extremely trite and contrived as to fit perfectly into a pre-packaged media narrative of the Daily Shooter. Nonetheless, it’s a perfect example of how the media have seized on an online posting in order to stitch together a virtual conviction of guilt.
It’s also worth pointing out here how a similar posting referencing a previous Daily Shooter, Dylan Storm Roof of Charleston South Carolina, was attributed to the alleged Roanoke shooter Vester Lee Flanagan. In a bizarre ‘manifesto’ that was allegedly sent by Flanagan via FAX to ABC News at nearly exact time of the shooting, Flanagan is said to have written this:
“Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15…” Flanagan wrote. “What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.”
Again, no news pundit has dared to challenge this nonsensical posting attributed to Vester Lee Flanagan – one which provides an apparent motive and secures the all-important ‘virtual conviction’ that fits perfectly into a pre-packaged media narrative of the Daily Shooter.
Trial By Social Media: Online ‘Persona’ of a Mass-Shooter
Big Media appears to have worked out their own formula for laying out a familiar series of the polarizing political points in the aftermath of any ‘tragic’ mass-shooting. Roseburg was no different. And it appears that once again, the public has been purposefully redirected to look at a ready-made digital laundry list of hateful rhetoric, random writings, anonymous social media rants and obscure online dating profiles – none of which clearly indicate, much less fully explain any discernible motive for the crime. Instead, the entire exercise quickly descends into an orgy of mainstream media speculation and theorizing, as well as playing on emotive stereotyping.
All too often we see the ‘online persona’ of any alleged killer being touted as hard evidence, despite the fact that even strong circumstantial evidence of any apparent crime would likely result in many hours of analysis and debate, potentially without a definitive conclusion, even if the evidence eventually reached a court room setting.
What protocols does law enforcement have in place when investigating digital forensics or determining who posted certain artifacts on the various online sites, wouldn’t this process take a considerable amount of time to prove?
And how is it that the media gets away with dispensing these postings as definitive proof after every mass-shooting event?
By enacting this process, the new trend of ‘trial by social media’ allows law enforcement and media to quickly bypass any real investigation, and ultimately due process.
The result is that the mainstream media will speak and act as though a ‘trial by social media’ automatically leads to a foregone conclusion, long before all of the evidence has been properly reviewed. The level of standard for media outlets is in a rapid decline, as they no longer conduct any real investigation, preferring instead to wait for the official press conference for all of their information – and their easy job seems to have gotten much easier.
On a 24/7 loop, the public is subjected the media’s focus on speculative commentary and emotionally charged images.
This is the new formula for mass media coverage, a new political commodity and trial by social media equates to a ‘virtual’ conviction, inducing a kind of cognitive dissonance for passive audiences, which often blocks viewers from considering another perspective following a traumatic event. This type of new disposable propaganda has become the doorway for all hot button socio-political issues including ‘gun control/reform’ and for those concerned over ‘mental illness’ background checks. Once again, the media plays a crucial role – not in informing and educating the public, or investigating crime, or (god forbid) questioning the state’s methods and motives in any high-profile event – but rather, jamming up the public’s ability to use deductive reasoning in the aftermath of any apparent crime.It should be obvious by now how events like Oregon, along with other ‘mass-shootings’, become a serrated catalyst to usher in calls for endless new protocols for ‘security’, inter-agency fusion, emergency medical procedures, and also for injecting more and more military terminology into civilian life.
One key feature of every single press conference immediately following a mass shooting is that lead officials will begin the presentation boasting about how quick response times were and how well federal, state and local agencies ‘worked together’, and they will also name each individual department head and mention the federal grant program. Even in the face of an apparent tragedy, the priority always seems to be the promotion of named executives and funding allocations. It’s almost like a PSA for Department of Homeland Security fusion protocols.
The Dark Net
Additionally, over the last few days we’ve seen a flood of strange side stories concerning the UCC shooting, as the message board and popular hacker hangout site, 4chan, seemed to surface as the starting point regarding this story, as random Twitter feeds vaguely linked an ‘ISIS meme’ to this event but without any clear evidence.
Evidence of advanced knowledge of the Oregon shooting event surfaced on 4chan. The following is passage is from Salon that discusses the suspicious alert prior to the UCC campus shooting:
“Federal officials announced they were investigating a recent 4chan exchange that appeared to predict the rampage. In a cryptic post on the /r9k board on Wednesday, an anonymous poster with an image of Pepe the Frog holding a gun reportedly posted, “Some of you guys are alright. Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest. happening thread will be posted tomorrow morning. so long space robots.”4chan has been rife with controversy since its inception, as some critics think it may indeed be a limited hangout for the intelligence community. And due to the suspect nature of the website, a bevy of internet researchers have questioned the highly orchestrated law enforcement response in the aftermath of the UCC shooting via the apparent 4chan warning.
‘CAMPUS HERO’ – Wounded victim pictured smiling above, was said to have been shot 5-7 times at close range whilst unarmed during the UCC shooting, while apparently heroically saving other students. (Photo twitter)
Additionally, a dramatic tale of heroism emerged following the apparent mass-shooting event. Military veteran Chris Mintz.
Interestingly, during the early media coverage of the Roseburg event, a person looking identical to Mintz seems to have appeared in a still photo gleaned from a news reel shot of student bystanders gathered at Umpqua College (photo, below).
UNCONFIRMED: Is this the same person in both photos?
A GoFundMe page set-up to solicit donations for Mintz has already raised $765,606. It’s expected to hit $1,000,000 by the end of this week.
‘TAKING AN OATH’ – Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin. (Photo ohio)
Media Propaganda & Sidebar Scripting
According to Talking Points Memo and other major media outlets:
“The sheriff investigating a mass shooting at an Oregon community college that left at least nine people dead posted a video to Facebook in 2013 that raised questions about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.”Additionally, constitutionally-oriented Sheriff John Hanlin is said to have personally written a letter to Vice President Joe Biden two days after the Facebook post (seen below). CNN and other outlets were quick to discredit Hanlin as a “conspiracy theorist.”
“Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings,” Hanlin wrote in the letter. “Any actions against, or in disregard for our U.S. Constitution and 2nd Amendment rights by the current administration would be irresponsible and an indisputable insult to the American people.”
‘DIVERSION’ – Did Hanlin’s Sandy Hook post put a spotlight on him? (Photo TPM)
As we have two anomalies here, then one must consider that this is more than just a coincidence. So it’s fair to ask at this point, is Hanlin, or the views he represents, being targeted by the Establishment in some way?
Last Action Hero
Today.com reveals another uncanny coincidence concerning the UCC campus shooting:
“Yet another shooting hits close to home for Alek Skarlatos, the hero who helped stop a gunman on a Paris-bound train traveling from Amsterdam in August.”
“Skarlatos, an Army National Guardsman, was enrolled in classes at Umpqua Community College, where a shooting took 13 lives on Thursday, before agreeing to become a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars.”
The Daily Shooter had previously covered the Paris Train Event and the involvement of newly decorated American Hero and military reservist Alek Skarlatos back in August. Many pundits have speculated that the Roseburg event was Jihad-connected because Harper Mercer had ‘friended’ an alleged ‘ISIS’ avatar on his defunct Myspace social media account, that Harper Mercer has carried out a religious attack at Umpqua College, with certain online personalities even going so far as to speculate that Harper Mercer was at Umpqua to ‘hunt down’ Skarlatos to avenge the Paris Train event. More than anything, this line of conjecture appears to be a red-herring that falls neatly into the ‘fear the Muslim’ category being pushed by certain media outlets.
Obama and Skarlatos (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Much more interesting however, is how quickly Alek Skarlatos has been firmly implanted as a “celebrity” in the media, and like ALL mainstream celebrities – he’s now functioning as a media commodity for the Establishment – and used as a media prop to advance various issues and narratives through TV and super-market stand magazines – even taking personal phone calls from President Obama himself – is it possible that military hero-man Skarlatos could emerge as an advocate for ‘Gun Conrol’ on behalf of the White House? This would be a mean feat for Obama, considering the numerous postings on social media of Skarlatos posing with all manner of high-caliber guns and tactical equipment. Here are a few:
‘SERIOUS MUG’ – Skarlatos posing with one of many shot-guns and weapons on Facebook.
‘OREGON SNIPER’ – A young Skarlatos showing off some of his long-range skills on Facebook.
This week, Skarlatos appeared on the Ellen Show, which will aired today Monday, alongside with his “Dancing With the Stars” partner Lindsay Arnold, where he described the details of the Paris shooting, and also spoke about how he felt knowing he could’ve been on campus at Umpqua Community College:
“I would’ve been there today if I didn’t agree to do this show,” Skarlatos said. “I had classes picked out and everything.”
Coincidentally, Obama had visited the small town of Roseburg back in May 2008 at US Senator while campaigning for the president. He held a series of town hall meetings in Roseburg, Pendleton, and a rally in Portland, Oregon.
The President’s ‘Gun Reform’ Agenda
In addition, a bevy of potential new laws will fill the conversational vacuum – in what appears to be a very deliberate attempt to radically manipulate public opinion in the wake of a tragedy. Never was this more obvious than with this Roseburg Shooting. President Obama wasted no time (roughly 4 hours after the actual shooting) to call a national press conference where he decreed that he will henceforth be “politicizing” each mass shooting event in order to push forward his own agenda on gun reform in America.
“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough”, and “This is something we should politicize,” said US president Barack Obama from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, named after the man wounded in the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan. For decades, Brady has been the national touchstone for gun control issue.
Obama continued, “I’d ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws, and to save these lives and let these people grow up.” He then leveled an attack against the National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbying group, stating, “And I would particularly ask America’s gun owners who are using those guns properly, safely, to hunt for sport, for protecting their families, to think about whether your views are being properly represented by the organization that suggests it is speaking for you.” See his full speech here.
Other mainstream media outlets quickly began lining-up behind the president’s political juggernaut. The Washington Post ran with, “Is this the mass shooting that will finally shame us into acting?“
Time.com posted President Obama’s entire address delivered from the James Brady press room in the following the campus shooting at UCC on Thursday. Here is a short passage from his speech:
“The United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws — even in the face of repeated mass killings.” And later that day, there was a mass shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. That day!”As previously mentioned at 21WIRE, following the highly suspicious shooting at Grand Theater in Lafayette, according to the ‘Mass Shooting Tracker’ the definition of a mass-shooting event has changed to include a larger number of shootings. The Washington Post published an article listing the apparent number of mass shootings in America including the new tracking methods.
There is no doubt that this new method of looking at the gun-related statistics, will invoke a more emotionally charged response for maximum effect.
With each new shooting event there will be calls for tighter gun restrictions, and given Obama’s legacy interview with the BBC this past August – which just happened to coincide (uncanny timing) with the Lafayette Movie Theater Shooting - he reminded us of his motive:
“This is not something that I [Barack Obama] intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months.“
Do not forget this speech by Obama’s political and ideological compatriot and former Attorney General Eric Holder, who spelled out the social agenda in back in 1995, admitting that Washington must ‘brainwash’ the public into accepting their gun control agenda:
Repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act
Consider Holder’s extraordinary comments. If you think that your government wouldn’t dare lie to the public, or run a psychological warfare operation in full view in a domestic theater - think again. After the repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act - it’s all legal now:
“Congress was quietly planning to lift a 64-year-old law preventing the US government from using propaganda on its own citizenry. Before the House passed its defense budget bill Friday afternoon, Hastings reported, a bipartisan group of congressmen tacked on an amendment that would “essentially neutralize” a set of time-tested guidelines “that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government’s misinformation campaigns.”
END OF PART ONE – Stay tuned for more information on this event.
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