The mother of the man who killed nine people and himself at Umpqua Community College in Oregon last week wrote extensively on social media about her love of guns and her difficulty raising an autistic child, the New York Timesreports.
Laurel Margaret Harper, mother of gunman Chris Harper-Mercer, wrote that she kept AR-15 and AK-47 semiautomatic rifles and a Glock handgun in their home, and cited her son as her source on facts about gun laws. Writing on Yahoo Answers under the name TweetyBird, she mocked “lame states” with tough gun-control laws, and said that because of the multiple loaded guns she kept at home, “no one will be ‘dropping’ by my house uninvited without acknowledgement.”
She and her son would frequently go to shooting ranges, and she expressed disdain for inexperienced gun owners, writing that she would “cringe every time the ‘wannabes’ show up.”
Harper also acknowledged her son’s troubled history, and wrote that she and her son both had Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. She wrote that Chris—whom she never identifies by name—was “among other things, a head-banger,” and seemed proud and what she and her son had accomplished despite their challenges. “I have Asperger’s and I didn’t do so bad,” she wrote. Elsewhere, she comforted another parent of a child on the autism spectrum, writing, “I was in your shoes and now my son’s in college.”
When advising other parents of kids on the autism spectrum, Harper recommended reading early and often to their children, and said that a particular favorite of hers was Donald Trump’s bestseller ‘The Art of the Deal. “Fact: Before my son was even born, I was reading out loud to him from Donald Trump’s ‘The Art of the Deal,’” she wrote.
Police found 14 guns belonging to both Harper-Mercer and his mother at their home after the shooting.
Harper got divorced from her son’s father, Ian Mercer, in 2006, Mercer told CNN he had no idea his son had access to so many guns, and that the massacre “would not have happened” had his son not been able to purchase so many firearms. “How is it so easy to get all these guns?” he asked.
Go Inside the Lives of Families Affected by Gun Violence
Family members gather around Albert Vaughn’s coffin to say goodbye. “Lil Al” was beaten to death with a baseball bat by Nathaniel Tucker. The conflict began when Vaughn, 18, confronted Tucker’s cousin, who had gotten into an argument with Vaughn’s younger brother. Englewood, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizIn Memory of Nugget. Seven years after the death of Siretha White, her family celebrates her birthday. She would have been 18 years old that March. Siretha’s family never got to cut the cake at her 11th birthday party, the day she was killed. Englewood, Chicago, 2013.
Side caption: Siretha White’s cake, on what would have been her 18th birthday.Carlos Javier OrtizThe Bud Billiken parade, the oldest African-American parade in the country, kicks off the new school year and celebrates black life in Chicago. Washington Park, Chicago, 2013.Carlos Javier OrtizAlex Arellano, 15, was shot and burned after being hit with bats and then struck by a car that was chasing him. Gage Park, Chicago, 2009.
Side caption: Burn marks in the gangway where 15-year-old Alex Arellano was murdered.Carlos Javier OrtizGirls in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side attend a block party to celebrate the lives of Starkeisha Reed, 14, and Siretha White, 10. Starkeisha and Siretha were killed days apart in March 2006. The girls’ mothers were friends, and both grew up on Honore Street, where the celebration took place. Englewood, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizA view of the historic Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. Oak Woods Cemetery is the final resting place of many of the young people who are victims of violence in Chicago. Joseph Briggs was one of eight people killed in a weekend of shootings that left more than 40 people wounded. Briggs, who turned 16 in April 2012, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch. Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago, 2012.Carlos Javier OrtizThe mother of Fakhur Uddin, a 20-year old college student who was bound with duct tape and shot in the back of the head inside his family’s Philadelphia store, collapses to the ground and weeps as police investigate the scene. Germantown, Philadelphia, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizAngry community members, business owners and church pastors marched through Chicago’s South Side to protest the overwhelming numbers of murders that took place in October of that year. Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago, 2009.Carlos Javier OrtizRapper Young DBoy Low and his friends shoot a video with the help of Project Spitfire, a nonprofit that uses music to help young people break free of the vicious cycle of gangs, drugs and violence. The group pairs young musicians with professional producers who help them record songs and videos. Bronzeville, Chicago, 2011.
Side caption: Rapper Young DBoy Low shoots a video with Project Spitfire, a non-profit that uses music to help young people break the cycle of violence. Gun imagery permeates the imagination on a video shoot.Carlos Javier OrtizBoys play in an empty lot where homes once stood. Today, all that remains are trees and broken glass surrounded by abandoned homes. Englewood, Chicago, 2007.Carlos Javier OrtizKids jump off a trampoline during a block party. Auburn Gresham, Chicago, 2013.Carlos Javier OrtizArthur Burgess, 19, of the 500 block of East 32nd Street, was shot on a cold winter night and died at the scene. His friend was shot twice but survived. Englewood, Chicago, 2009.Carlos Javier OrtizAlbert Vaughn was the neighborhood guardian, the older teenager who would play ball with the younger kids and try to keep them safe from trouble. About 50 of his friends and family members gathered to remember “Lil Al” on the block where he was killed. Englewood, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizMembers of St. Sabina Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood pray to end violence in Chicago. More than 40 young people have been murdered in the neighborhood since 2006. Auburn Gresham, Chicago, 2013.Carlos Javier OrtizChicago’s lakefront is a frequent hang-out for youth during the summer months, but many young people have never been outside of their neighborhoods,
let alone to the beaches along the lake. Near South Side, Chicago, 2006.Carlos Javier OrtizVictims of violence are often memorialized with T-shirts made by their friends and relatives. This is a photograph of a victim for use in his memorial T-shirt. Lawndale, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier Ortiz
