A New Zealand student caught up in a mass shooting at a college in the United States is so "totally distressed" he wants to return home.
Jaylen Gerrand (20) saw four bodies when an unknown gunman opened fire on the campus at Umpqua Community College in Oregon just after 10.30am on Thursday (local time).
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The gunman, identified by authorities as a 20-year-old man, killed nine people and wounded seven others before being shot by police, authorities said. CNN reported that four guns belonging to him were recovered from the scene.
Gerrand, a former student of Westlake Boys High School on Auckland's North Shore, had been in the US for only two weeks on a basketball scholarship.
Jeff Green, the head coach of Gerrand's New Zealand basketball team, the James Blond Supercity Rangers, said he had spoken to Gerrand today and he was shaken up but uninjured.
"He was running alongside a guy and the guy was shot dead - the guy running next him," Green said.
"He ran past three others that were shot dead, so it was horrifying, horrific.
"So he saw four people dead. He's totally distressed, totally distressed. He just wants to come home right now. It's a huge, huge tragedy."
Green's son, Tamamoko, and another Kiwi, Hyrum Harris, were set to join Gerrand in the US on Tuesday after the New Zealand secondary school national basketball championships.
Green said he had spoken to the Umpqua basketball coach and their travel had been postponed.
"Right now it's all up in the air. But the boys won't be going up on Tuesday."
Gerrand, who plays point guard, had been in the New Zealand Breakers academy team for a couple of years.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said staff in the US were in contact with Gerrand and helping in any way they could.
He was "doing fine and is back [at his US] home with friends".
Staff were also supporting family in New Zealand, who have spoken to Gerrand.
Prime Minister John Key, currently in New York, said he had not been advised on the New Zealander involved but was confident the ministry would ensure he had appropriate support.
Mr Key said US President Barack Obama had previously raised the need for gun controls but the Congress and Senate seemed unwilling to move.
"The tragedy for the United States in recent times is that this isn't the first and sadly it doesn't look like it's going to be the last. The United States has hundreds and hundreds of millions of guns in circulation. From Virginia Tech to the most recent in Oregon we've just seen far too many innocent people killed as a result of that."
Thursday's massacre is the latest in a series of mass shootings at US college campuses, movie theatres, military bases and churches in recent years.
The killings have fueled demands for more gun control in the US, where ownership of firearms is protected by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, and better care for the mentally ill.
- NZ Herald and Reuters
