At least nine people were killed and another 20 wounded today when a gunman went on a horrific shooting spree at a US community college before he was shot dead by police, in yet another carnage that prompted President Barack Obama to voice outrage over lax gun-control laws.
The guman was identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer by local media, which citing eye-witnesses, reported that he allegedly targeted Christians.
He opened fire at Umpqua Community College in rural Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland - the capital of Oregon -- and then went on to other classrooms gunning down his victims, witnesses said.
The college has some 3,000 students.
The police said the motive of the shooter was not known.
President Obama, who has so far failed to convince the Republican-majority Congress towards a stringent gun-control laws, spilled out his frustrations, saying "our" thoughts and prayers are not enough.
"It's not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America -- next week, or a couple of months from now," he told reporters at the White House.
In the last seven years, Obama has addressed the nation more than a dozen times on nine different shooting attacks.
"Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it. We've become numb to this," Obama said.
A grim-faced John Hanlin, Sheriff of Douglas County, said: "It's been a terrible day."
"Certainly this is a huge shock to our community."
Hanlin said he would not name the shooter. "I will not name the shooter. I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act," he said.
Earlier authorities had said 13 people died, but later confirmed the death toll to 10, including the gunman.
The Oregon college shooting is the latest in a series of shootings in the US, including at a Charleston church, Sandy Hook school and Oak creek Gurdwara.
A visibly angry Obama told reporters that it's fair to say that anybody who does this "has a sickness in their minds," regardless of what they think their motivations may be.
"But we are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people. We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months," he said.
