On Friday, Oct. 9, President Barack Obama will visit Roseburg, Oregon, to visit privately with families of victims of last week's tragic shooting, a White House spokesperson confirmed Monday.
Obama is scheduled to visit Roseburg on Friday as part of a four-day West Coast trip. The White House said further details about Obama's trip will be revealed later this week. "We await the president's arrival and look forward to his show of support for a community who is grieving and whose heartache is immeasurable — especially the families of those killed," the commissioners said.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Douglas County Commissioners said that they await Obama's visit, despite not agreeing with all of Obama's policies.
Nine people were killed at Umpqua Community College last week when a 26-year-old student opened fire in a writing class. The gunman ultimately killed himself in a shootout with authorities. Nine others were wounded in the shooting.
It won't be Obama's first trip to Roseburg. The President recalled an earlier visit in comments last Thursday, shortly after the mass shooting on the college campus just outside the city.
"I've been to Roseburg, Oregon. They're really good people there. I want to thank all the first responders whose bravery likely saved some lives today."
Obama has also — in his own words — "politicized" the shooting by connecting the tragedy to possible changes to gun laws.
Almost immediately after the shooting, Obama renewed calls for stricter gun regulations. "Each time this happens, I'm going to bring this up. Each time this happens, I'm going to say that we can do something about it, but we're going to have to change our laws," he said in a televised speech Thursday.
Authorities confirmed last week that they recovered 14 weapons from the gunman's apartment and the scene of the shooting. All of the weapons were legally purchased over the past three years, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.