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In the real world, Chris Harper-Mercer cut the figure of a quiet young man who kept people at bay with his earbuds and struggled to speak when neighbors asked him how he was doing. He flunked out of the Army in less than five weeks, had few if any friends and still lived with his mom at age 26.

Sources have identified the gunman as Chris Harper Mercer. He is seen in a photo posted to one of his social media accounts.
Sources have identified the gunman as Chris Harper Mercer. He is seen in a photo posted to one of his social media accounts.

On several websites that appeared to be linked to Harper-Mercer, he put up a more robust front. A Myspace.com page included pictures of him with a rifle and photos of Irish Republican Army fighters with assault weapons and balaclavas, and the caption: “Looking cool defending their country.” On a dating website, he wrote that he weightlifted and enjoyed “killing zombies.”

The accounts on those sites were linked to an email address associated with Harper-Mercer.

Nothing in those online profiles suggested the suffocating hate or alienation that might drive someone to put on body armor, grab six guns and extra ammunition, and open fire on college students trapped in a classroom, killing nine.

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