Accused Oregon gunman was dismissed from Fort Jackson

The U.S. Army says the gunman who killed nine people at an Oregon community college flunked out of basic training in 2008.

Lt. Col. Ben Garrett, an Army spokesman, said Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer was in the service at Columbia’s Fort Jackson, starting on Nov. 5, 2008. But by Dec. 11, 2008, he was discharged for failing to meet the minimum administrative standards.

Garrett did not say which standards Harper-Mercer failed to meet. Generally, the Army requires recruits to pass physical fitness tests and to be generally in good physical and mental health. Recruits also must score highly enough on a multiple-choice test covering science, math, reading comprehension and other topics.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Accused Oregon gunman was dismissed from Fort Jackson."