News of another private meeting we didnt know about until now. Nbc nightly news begins right now. Good eveng. Behind me is the postcard image of which the people of the roseberg, oregon, area are justifiably proud. But at the top of the hill ands urrounded by treesb cut off by police is a scene of horror. The Umpqua CommunityCollege Campus where nine innocent lives were taken in a mass shooting. Last night president obama spoke in frustrated tones about the routineness of Mass Shootings in the country and the fear them. But nothing in the last 30 hours have become the same. Nightmare has come to thur team. Our team on the ground is working the story. Miguel almaguer begins our coverage. Unconfirmed report that he has a long gun. Reporter the first calls for help came at 10 38 a. M. What followed on the College Campus was nine minutes of terror. Im very lucky. There is some people that didnt make it out of there. Reporter 17yearold sara cobb held in a neighboring classroom, next to the professors writing lass when Chris Harper Mercer began shooting students and staff. I was terrified. Absolutely terrified. Didnt know if i would be alive o get shot. Reporter armed wi six guns including a rifle, mers he had body armer and extra ammunition. We may never completely determine what the motive was but well certainly look everywhere. One witness said the shooter was calm and asking students what their religion was before opening fire. Everybody was screaming, get underneath the table. One guy ran out of the classroom and i believe he got shot. Reporter it was chaos. Two officers engaged mercer who was killed inhe gunfire. As police secure the campus, students were checked for weapons and bused to the faft of the fair grounds where parents were waiting for words, was their child alive. The College President said no one could have anticipated this. It is like carnage in this. Reporter tonight the names of the dead were released. Nine innocent victims. Jason johnson was 34 and was his fourth day at school. I wish that i would have said dont go. In i knew what i know now. Reporter at a vigil, hundreds mourn the dead. He was there for me when i really, really needed him. He was there when i was sad. Reporter nine others were wounded. Among the hurt, chris mitz is being called a hero. He was trying to block the shooter. An army veteran and young father said to have rushed the gunman and mayave saved lives. The victims are all seriously injured but expected to survive. As for the dead, they range in age from 1867. The youngest was a freshman, the oldest was the professor here and late tonight we learned the gunman was enrolled in the school and supposed to attend the class where he opened fire. Miguel, thanks. And that is somewhat of were learned about the man what carried out this massacre. Law enforcement say he was struggling with Mental Illness issues and he left behind a chilling final message revealing himself as someone who believed the whole world was against him. Nbcs Pete Williams has been digging into his past. Law enforcement Officials Say mers h wrote a long hatefilled document found at the scen of the shooting. According to those who have seen it, said he would be welcomed in he and embraced by the devil. And in a bad way. That the world was against him and he had no life, no girlfriend. And he showed a detailed interest in other Mass Shootings and wrote on a blog on the recent shooting about a tv reporter and photographer saying of that gunman, so many people like him are all alone and unknown yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. That may be the reason the oregon sheriff continues to not talk about it. I continue to believe that the Community Members who pub liz ize his name will only gorefy his horrific actions and eventually this will serve to inspire future shooters. Mercers parents divorced in 2006. His father ian in los angeles said the killings are devastating. Ascended this Southern California school for emotionally troubled children and moved with his mother t oregon two years ago. Neighbors sayt was obvious he was troubled. I thought he was kind o a odd guy. He was a grown little kid. He would have tantrums his way. On his own social media he showed fascination with the military and the irish republican army. He enlisted in 2008 and was kicked out one month later. On a dating website he was associated with a oup called doesnt like associated religionch and he had an assaultstyle rifle jacket. The jacket had steel plate as long with five magazines. An additional amount of ammunition was also apartment. Reporter a search of the apartment where mother turned up seven more guns. Officials say all of the guns that mercer had were purchased legally and nothing from his past would have disqualified him from buying them. No court ever ruled him mentally unfit. Which is the Legal Standard under oregon and federal law. Lester. Pete williams, tonight, thank you. And out of the horror committed on the campus behind us, we are hearing of stories that came facetoface with the shooter and survived. These two are about as close as two siblings can be, only two years apart and both attend the college but in yesterdays commotion they couldnt have felt father apart as cory became the first to learn his sister was shot. Natalie morales spoke with cory. I dont know how to explain the sound of someones voice when they think they are going to die. He was trying to reach his sister in the classroom 500 yards away and when he finally got through on her cell phone it was terrifying. She was bawling her eyes out and said i have been shot and i cant feel my legs an i was trying to keep it together for her. Ana was shot in the back and cory sd she remembers all of the frightening moments. She said god was telling her to stay calm and still and dont do anything. And the gunman came up to her and said girl in the black, girl with the blondha, stand up. And she stayed still. So she was playing dead as she reported. Exactly. The wherewithal and the presence a the calm it took to n lose it in a situation like at,hes so brave. Shes so strong and courageous. And she didxactly what she hado do. I dont know how many people could have don that. I dont kno if i could have done that. His sister was blessed. The bullet to her spine narrowly missed crical nerve and her lungs. Cory raced to her side at the hospital. Theirst thing my surgeon came in explainhe surry and she said i want one thing, i want the bullet from my gunsh wound and she started laughing. E is an amazing person. D iov l her wit all of my heart. Im pud of her. Shes my hero. And doctors say she should make a full recovery. One familys remarkable story giving hope in this communitys time of need. In eugene, oregon, natalie, morales, nbc news. The tragedy here in roseberg is reigniting the debate over gun control. Practically by the end of thisbroadcast, two more people will have been shot and killed in this country according to the cdc, one person is killed with a firearm nearly every 16 minutes in the u. S. And 92 people are killed her every day with firearms, including suicides. Evidence that america gun violence nightmare goes beyond e ms shootings that happen all too often in this country. We get more from peter reporter 5monthold killed in a driveby shooting in cleveland, yesterday. Enough is enough. When are we goingo stop counting babies being killed out in the streets for nothing. This afternoon president obama was frustrate anded up about the neverending toll of gun violence. This will not change until the politics changes and the behavior of elected officials changes. And so the main thing im going to do is im going to talk about this. Reporter since 2001, 153000 americans ha been lled by gun violence, compared to 3000 in terror attacks attacks. American as agree the violence must end but are bitter le divided on how to stop it. Sheriff hanlin wrote Vice President biden insisting gun control is not the answer to preventing school shootings. He wouldnt talk about it today. Right nowm focused on completing this invtigation and more iorta focused on the victims and the family of the victims. Reporter on the campaigntrail, the candidates reacted. Jeb bushnsisting even in the wake of heartbre tragedies, new laws arent always the solution. Look stuff happs. There is always a crisis. And the impulse is to doomhingnd it is not necessarily the right thing to do. Droit in an interview with meet the press. Y havou pple that are mentally ill and they wille through the cracks. The latest poll shows less than half support stricter gun control laws but 95 want background checks for all gun buyers. Roseberg, painfly familiar to the principal killed at sandy hook elementary. How many for families and how many more people and how many more times is this going t happen. Until our country does something. A question this tonight. Reporter president obama has called a failure to pass gun safety laws the greatest frustration of his presidency. Tonight he ordered the flag t f at halfstaff here at the white house and on federal grounds in honor of the victims of the oregon shooting. Lester. Peter alexander at the white house. Thank you. We continue to monitor a major weather event effecting much of the eern seaard as Hurricane Joaquin tracks out to sea. Another flood emergency in several stat what forecters a lling potentially lifethreateng flootding over the next severalay n a moment the forecas from al roker. Butirst the later from gabe iterrez. Reporr tonight torrenal rtientless rain is pounding much of the east coast. 22 millioneople ar under a flash flood watch. Parts of virginia and maryland under water. River gauges on the Chesapeake Bay at major flood levels and predicted to rise through the weekend. Down the coast, historic charleston, South Carolina is drenched. People waded through fite feet water. We dont move the barricades and drive through it any way. Theaying is dont drown, turn around. So if the flood is flooded, there is no reason for you to go through there. Reporter Hurricane Joaquin is still battler the bahamas and the coast guard is searching for a cargo ship with 33 people on board that disappeared from radar yesterday. Hurricane hunter planes flew low in the eye of the storm to help find the missing ship. The coast guard also rescuing 12 people who abandoned another vessel that took on water near haiti. Intense preparations are spanning nearly a dozen states. Six has declared state of emergency. The nypd getting ready for flash flood with inflatable rafts. Strong wind and heavy rf slamming into the jersey shore. After sandy, you hear the word hurrice and you get afraid sand dunes built up to keep back the storm sue. Night t eastoa haged the brunt of joaqu but it i facing another storm head on. Right here at the Chesapeake Bay were seng seitained winds of nearly 30 Miles Per Hour and waves up to 11 et. Severaloads in this area have been closed. And more rain is expected to pound this coast through the weekend. Lester. Gabe, lets check inith al roker now. He is monitoring the storm as it unfolds. Al, where will we see the hardest hit areas. The southeast but along the east coast we are feeling the effects o High Pressure and joaquin as well as it makes its way away. Right now it is 15 miles west northwest of san salvador. Starting to weaken. 25 mileperhour winds. Path brings it parallel to the coast. Away from it but enough to bring in some of the winds on shore that will cause problems. And loo at the moisture making its way up and down the east coast. Coastal flooding expects. We have Flood Warning andches for 45 Million People. Currently we have flash flood watches for 22 Million People from d. C. To. D look at the rainfall amounts. Fr 57 incs by saturday night and, lester, by sunday night, were lking rainfall amounts from 1015 inches of rain could be as much as 20. It is lifthreatening rain, lester. Allght. Al roker, thank you. Still ahead tonight, what is the real story about wha mappedn happened when the pope ca facetoface with samesex marriage oppone kim davis. Tal new car. Nobodys ht,but there ll still be pain. Ites when your iurmpanys theyllnlpa threequarters of what it takes to replace it. 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Reporter pope francis in america. A historic widelypraised visit, but less than 48 hours after he landed back in rome, news that raised some eyebrows. A meetingith kim davis,he controvers kentucky county crk who refused to issue rriage licenses to samesex couples. A visno she described an abc. I hugged him and he gged me and he said thank you for your courage. Reporter a visit praised by conservatives but disappointing to supporters of samesex marriage. Now an extraordinary statement from the veteran approved by francis himself clarifying his meeting with dis should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects. The vatican wnplaying davil visit saying she was one of dozens who met with the pope in washington. Pope francis is, as we know, very adept and politically savvy and will not allow himself tget entangled in bates andhis wa an effort to untangle the crism for this meeting. 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Among the dead are six rmen and five civilian contractors on board and thr civilians on the ground. Enemy fire is not suspected in the crash. Also nigh in president obamas new conference today, some sharp words about syria. He calledrussias yo miholitary invention there this week, dozens of airstrikes, an act of weakness and a recipe for disaster. And he dismissed Hillary Clintons call for a nofly zone in syria, saying quote, there is a dference beeen running for president being president. Were back in a moment with more on our top story. How what if one piece of kale coulprott you from diabetes . What if one situp could event heart ase . One. Wiful thinking, right . But there is one step you can take to help prevent e other serious disease. Pneumococcal pumonia. If you are 50 or older, one dose of the prevnar 13 vaccine b e can help protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia, an illness that can caus in the hospital. 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Companys data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think thats where at t can help. At at t we monitor our Network Traffic so we can see things others cant. Mitigating risks across your business. Leaving you free to focus on what matters most. Were cracking down on Medicare Fraud. Pthe Health Care Law gives us powerful tools to fight it. To investigate it prosecute it and stop criminals our senior medicare patrol volunteers are teaching seniors across the country to stop, spot and report fraud you can help guard your Medicare Card dont give out your card number over the phone call to report any suspected fraud were cracking downv on Medicare Fraud lets make medicaret finallynight, here in roseberg, oregon, were witnessing an ououring of suppor in the w of the tragedy. In ts comnity and from t nation beyond it. Here is nbcs kevin tiles. Reporter on aay after so much carnage, they came by the hundreds t date gift of life. It is my duty. It is my duty as money american. Reporter they say they belong here. In this pretty town of 22,000, with this wooded hills and logging trucksnd caves. No one asked them to co. They just knew. I kind of felt helpless with the whole situation. So i fel likehis was kind the only way that i could do something. Reporter oday is a day for community in roseberg. Where a gofund me page started by a in to raise 0,0 has already gatherore than 200,0. For army van chris mintz shot seven times while trying to se others. And where businesses,ome staff were kids from the college share a coon message. Trua customers have been paying it forrdll day. A coffee for the next in line. Nothing big, but oh, so significant. Weve all been a augt good te to pay it fo something as simple as a cup of cfee might just make a difference. Yes, definitely. Coffee and a mile definitely making their day better. Reporter simple ings, small pernal gestures, signs this small town has pled together toegin the healing. Kevin tibbles. Nbc news, roseberg, oregon. Heard by telephone by theirlfriend chrisintz a said actions were hero but hume and we need t acknowlee all of those who lost their im lester holt reporting from rose,berg, oregon. For all of us a nbc newsou for and have a