This morning, the terror inside the classroom. The heroes who raced into action and the battle looming once again over guns in america. Natalie is live on the scene this morning. Moving out after hurricane slammed the bahamas, its headed to the east coast. A separate powerful storm is bringing torrential rains and potential flooding to the southeast today friday, october 2nd, 2015. From nbc news, this is today with matt louer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today, 7 00 a. M. Pacific time. Another heart breaking story. The president was so angry yesterday using words like routine and numb to describe the way many feel about this. People watching the around the country thinking how did this happen again and yet in this little town feelings are so raw this morning, its making an impact. Of course, its our top story. Tears and heart ache a day after a mass shooting. A Community College in oregon is the site. Natalie is live there this morning. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. This is the road that leads to the college where the shooting took place. The campus is closed now through monday. This is still very much an active crime scene. First full week of school. Students settling into their morning classes when at 10 38 chris harper merser came into Schneider Hall and unleashed his vicious attack. I once was lost over a thousand people gathered last night to remember the victims of Thursdays School shooting. Katrina talks about her friend chris mince who pleaded with the gunman not to kill him because it was his sons birthday. An army veteran just started college and shot multiple times. He is suspected to survive however hell be in a wheelchair and relearn how to walk. Minces family told nbc news we were told he did heroic things to protect some people. Aries brother was also in the classroom. He was unharmed. She says her brother told her the gunman asked people their religion before thhe started shooting. If they were christian they were shot in the head. If they stated other or didnt answer they were shot in the head. The shooter is 26yearold chris harper merser who began his rampage just after 10 30 thursday morning. We have one female shot at this time. According to Witnesses Police arrived on scene within minutes engaging merser in a shoot out. Hes in the classroom. Nearly 10 minutes after receiving calls of shots fired. Today was the saddest day in the history of the college. Oregons Governor Kate Brown said her priority was the victim. Im joined by my fellow oregonians and americans in heart break at the tragedy at the Community College. The president expressing his pain and frustration with yet another mass shooting in america. The reporting is routine. My response ends up being routine. The conversation and the aftermath of it, weve become numb to this. Four patients went to the operating room for various procedures and one left the emergency room. The shooters father spoke briefly to reporters late last night. Im just as shocked as everybody at what happened today. Its been a devastating day. Devastating for me and my family. Shocked is all i can say. Many certainly very shocked and heart broken here today. Community leaders speaking at the candle light vigil last night are crediting Law Enforcement for getting here so quickly including two u. S. Marshalls who first heard their gunshots on the scanner. They scrambled to the campus here at the Community College and perhaps were among the First Responders who helped prevent this from being a greater tragedy. All right. Out in oregon for us this morning, natalie, thank you very much. Of course, the big question this morning, why did it happen . For more on the shooter and his possible motivations we turn to nbcs joe fryer. Good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. Law enforcement trying to figure out the motive. Its unclear if factors like race, religion played a role. This morning the internet is giving us a closer look at the gunman. The suspected gunman chris harper merser was 26yearsold and lived in oregon with his mother within a few miles of the college. Before that, he called Southern California home. I would see chris shaved head, combat boots, cam moe pants and plain brown or white shirt. Reporter neighbors remember merser as a shy young man. He didnt want to be bothered by anybody. He seemed to open up online. In a dating profile he called himself spiritual but also said he didnt like organized religion. A my space page under his name to show the shooter featured merser holding what appeared to be a rifle and the page had several postings sympathetic to the Irish Republican Army. Merser was not a current student at the Community College and his connection to the school is unclear. At the scene of the shooting, Law Enforcement sources tell nbc news four firearms were recovered. Three handguns and one long gun similar to a rifle. Authorities also found several ammunition magazines in a bo list rancics bag. Reporter a number of agencies both local and federal are part of this investigation. A News Conference is scheduled for a little bit later this morning. We hope to hear more about what investigators are learning, perhaps hopefully a little more information. I spoke to the sheriff in that area and started by asking him if investigators searching the shooters apartment learned anything new. I can tell you that overnight investigators have located a number of firearms that later today we will describe more as far as numbers and types of weapons. Regarding the shooter himself, all i know is that his identity has been made but its way too early in the investigation to tell you anymore about the shooter himself. Can i ask you to confirm this horrific part of the story were hearing from family members that this shooter lined people up and asked if they were christian and if they answered yes they were shot in the head and if answered no they were shot some place else. Based on who you have spoken to, is this an accurate side of the story . Its early in the investigation. Well be trying to determine exactly what happened in that classroom but it is too early to tell at this point. You said it in specifics about the shooting itself. You said in a News Conference you were not going to mention this shooter by name. I think you said you didnt want to give him credit for this horrific act of cowardness. Is he someone who had come to the attention of Law Enforcement at all in the past . Had he done anything or said anything that raised red flags . Again, its early in the investigation. Im not aware of any specific red flags. He is a local resident and i know personally i havent heard of any warning signs coming from this person. Sheriff, i have to ask you about some things circulating online that involve you. Apparently, you wrote a letter in 2013 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings to joe biden, the Vice President and denounced any attempt at gun control. You wrote according to what ive seen on line gun control is not the answer to preventing heinous crimes like School Shootings and added an attempt to change the Second Amendment would be an insult to american people. First of all, are those statements accurate and have you changed your mind at all based on whats happened in your community . First of all, i know theres a lot of talk about guns and gun control. That is a conversation that im sure we will all be having in the coming weeks following this horrific incident. Right now, im focussed on completing this investigation and more importantly focussed on the victims and the family of the victims and ensuring they get through this very difficult time. Sheriff, i know your community is going through a lot. I appreciate you taking time to talk to us this morning. Thank you. And of course, when the shots began to ring out it was terrifying for the young people forced to scramble to safety. Casandr and sarah are both students at the school and were in classrooms next door to the shooting and this morning we talked about how they were doing after seeing something so horrific. Its terrifying. I never would have thought something would happen in such a Small Community like this. Im mortified. I dont know what to think. Yeah, im in horrific shock right now and i dont know what to think at this point anymore. Im in utter shock that this happened. Casandra, you were in a classroom next door different than sarahs. Can you describe what you heard and saw . Can you tell me what happened, sarah . I heard a really loud noise and i thought it was a book dropping or a table that fell or something and then i realized or a balloon that has a really loud pop. Then i realized something wasnt right. So a fellow classmate of mine went to the door to she and she got shot twice by the shooter and so she collapsed and we were all in panic mode then and we closed the door, locked it, turned off the light. Hid in the corner of the room and continued our classmates and i continued to hear shots after shots. How is your classmate this morning . Do you know how shes doing . I honestly dont know at this point if shes in Critical Condition or okay at this point. Sarah, what about you as i said you were in a different classroom and heard the shots ring out, what happened . So about half an hour, 40 minutes in the class i hear this loud noise and like thunder, i thought, it was maybe a book or table but suspiciously loud. My parents told me from a young age to be alert and aware of your surroundings. At that point i was looking around and looked out the window and saw two girls running from the building and thats when i knew, it registered to me that was a gunshot. I told the teacher we got to get out of here and get out of here now. She was leaning over to the door that connects to two classrooms by the wall and she asked is everyone okay and all right and she almost reached to open the door and thank god she didnt. That would have been the end right there. We would have had the shooter in the classroom also. After i told her its a gunshot. We got to get out. The second and third shots happened and by that point she had opened the door and i was halfway across campus by then. I had went over to the Student Center and stayed in the Financial Aid area for the lock down. What an absolutely terrifying situation for both of you. Were glad youre both okay and appreciate you sharing your stories this morning. Thank you. Pete williams is nbc justice corresponde correspondent. Good morning to you. We know the who and we know the what. We know who the shooter was and what he did. Are we any closer to figuring out the why . Only a little. I think the big question is why this school, why did he target this school and i dont think authorities have a good answer to that. It is clear this is a young man who had emotional problems from an early age. His mother talked to neighbors about trying to minimize things that bothered him. He had emotional difficulties. Nonetheless, it doesnt appear to be anything in his background to disqualify him from buying guns. He had four of them. Carried at least three to the school. He had additional high capacity magazines or clips to hold the rounds with him when he went to the school. Just having emotional problems wouldnt disqualify him from buying guns. There has to be court action to find someone ineligible on those grounds. We had video running of aerial shots looking down at the school and weve become all too familiar with the scene of First Responders arriving at the scene of a tragedy like this. Can you describe a little bit about how the reaction from Law Enforcement has changed over the years that weve lived through so many of these episodes . Yes, its changed in two ways. If you think about the middle picture to your mind of the Law Enforcement officers outside column bine high school, they followed what was then the standard protocol. Get to the scene, stabilize it. Wait for the heavily trained swat teams to go in. Now that rule is gone. Get there, get in, try to disable to shooter. The second thing is try to coordinate the response. For example, so the ambulance can get in and out quicker. Lessons learned over a long period of time. Pete williams, thank you very much. In the meantime, weather still a big story. Forecasters watching the hurricane. It blasts the bahamas overnight and in the meantime a storm system led to severe flooding in the southeast. It has had ripple effects all the way through the south coast. Still is a storm that has to be reckoned with. Even if it is not going to make direct land fall, its going to be a problem. These are the scenes from the carolinas and we are looking at wet weather from there. But in the meantime, look at what joaquin is. Major hurricane. Still a category 4 and wintds at 130 miles an hour and moving north, northwest and as it does, it will draw in cold air into the eastern seaboard. Were fgoing to have flooding problems up and down the coast and rip currents and in fact, take a look right now. This is where the european model and american model, finally, the nhc model joining that one making its way offshore. Tropical moisture making its way in. Heres the cut off low that isnt going anywhere because of a big blocking High Pressure system. Thats keeping a lot of moisture in here. We have a long term effect. Next three days were going to be looking at heavy rain, rainfall amounts 1020 inches of rain before its all over. Along the coast, big problems as well and we turn to dylan drier. She right now is in north carolina. Since we last saw you, things have gone downhill. Reporter yeah, the ocean is getting more rough, the wind has picked under and the rain off and on. At one point looking like a category two hurricane would hit right here along the outer banks of north carolina. Now with the storm staying well away from the east coast, we have Major Concerns for coastal flooding here and beach erosion. Look at how rough the surf is right now. Its all because of the set up, the persistent strong easterly wind thats going to get stronger is pushing all this Atlantic Water on shore. Its not just here but this is the same set up for areas like new england stretching all the way down to florida where we have coastal flood warnings and advisories in effect. We have winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour. Keep in mind it has been raining in the carolinas for the last week. The ground is rach rated and when youre talking about rainfall totals, about 1020 inches. We are looking at the potential for flash flooding and flooding. Even though its not a direct hit were looking at Major Concerns this weekend. Thank you so much. In fact, as we go back to the maps, heres what were talking about. The blocking High Pressure system and thats going to keep the difference between the two systems, the pressure gradient. 2,000 miles between them but theyre interacting. We have coastal flood warnings, coastal flood watches, 50 Million People effected up and down the coast by all of this. Were going to be watching this all we good friday morning. Im meteor kari hall. A clear sunrise as we get a view from mt. Hamilton and expect a lot of sunshine today and warmer temperatures. A high of 85 degrees in roy. In palo alto 80 degrees and belvedere up to 78 and union city 81 degrees and 88 degrees in livermore. Warmer temperatures today and a slight chance of rain as we head into the weekend. Keep checking in for updates on that. Your latest weather. Matt . All right, al. Tell you now about a tragedy overseas. 13 people including six American Service members were killed overnight when a u. S. C130 transport plane like this one crashed in afghanistan. It happened while the plane was taking off from an airfield. The six merps were members of the aircrafts crew. A cause for the crash has not been determined. Military officials said there were no reports of hostile activity in the area at the time of the crash. Tough morning here. Coming up, were going to have much more on this american tragedy. The mass shooting at that Community College in oregon. 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