Gunman in Oregon College massacre committed suicide: authorities

26-year-old Christopher Harper-Mercer, the gunman responsible for the Oregon Community College killings {PHOTO: COURTESY}

The gunman who killed his English professor and eight others at an Oregon community college committed suicide after a shootout with police who were on the scene within five minutes and exchanged fire with him almost immediately, authorities said.

Investigators had previously said the 26-year-old shooter was killed by the officers who raced to the rampage at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, which ranks as the deadliest among dozens of U.S. mass shootings in the past two years.