'Dancing with the Stars' contestant Alek Skarlatos flies home to Oregon after shooting at his college

Dancing with the Stars contestant Alek Skarlatos has responded to horrific news of the fatal shooting at the Oregon community college he had attended.


While Skarlatos was rehearsing with Dancing with the Stars partner Lindsay Arnold on Thursday, he received word a shooter had killed 10 people at the community college where he was a student. He rushed out of the studio and immediately called friends in Oregon, Us Weekly reported.

The 22-year-old American Army National Guardsman, who became famous after heroically preventing a potential terrorist attack aboard a Paris-bound train in August, headed home to Roseburg, OR, last night after asking people on Twitter to send their "thoughts and prayers to the families" of the victims. 

"I was enrolled as a student at Umpqua Community College prior to my 2014 deployment to Afghanistan. While I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time in August aboard a train bound for Paris, I only wish that the same could be said for today," Skarlatos told Us in a Thursday statement. 

"I wish that I could have been there today to assist. I praise the first responders who were on the ground today in Roseburg as they undoubtedly were integral in saving numerous lives and putting a stop to what could have been more than tragic than it is. My heart and prayers go out to this community, my community, right now."


Skarlatos, who is currently competing on Season 21 of Dancing with the Stars, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday and insisted he probably would've been on the college campus had he been kicked off DWTS already.

"I mean, it's a fairly small community college and just the town in general, everybody knows each other, so with that many deceased, I mean everybody's going to know at least one person," Skarlatos reportedly told Ellen DeGeneres. "I mean I would have been there today if I didn't agree to do this show. I had classes picked out and everything."

The gunman has been identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, whom officials declared dead.






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