Oregon shooter's death was suicide, authorities say

The sheriff in Roseburg, Oregon, where a gunman killed 9 students at Umpqua Community College earlier this week, said that the shooter killed himself during a confrontation with police at the scene of the campus assault.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, speaking at what he said would be the final scheduled new conference on the Thursday shooting, said that the Oregon medical examiner has identified the cause of death of the shooter as suicide.

Hanlin also said that authorities had found one additional pistol at the shooter's residence, bringing the total number of weapons linked to him to 14.

He thanked local, state and federal agencies for their assistance in the investigation, which he said was now aimed primarily at trying "to gain an understanding [of a motive] so that we can work together with law enforcement agencies around the country to prevent this from happening again."

Vanessa Becker, the chairman of the board of trustees at Umpqua Community College said classes there would resume on Monday and special events would restart the following week.

Greg Marlar, the chief of Douglas Fire District No. 2, said two of his firefighters, who responded to Thursday's shooting, had sons and daughters killed in the tragedy. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.