ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) — A rural southern Oregon county has a new morgue facility, three years after its two-body capacity became an issue following a mass shooting at the local community college.
The News-Review reports that Douglas County’s new morgue in Roseburg has expanded its capacity for investigating deaths by 10-fold.
Douglas County’s Chief Medical Legal Death Investigator Craig Kinney said he vowed see changes following the 2015 mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, which left the gunman and nine others dead.
The county successfully bypassed funding hurdles in part because of the shooting response.
It now has an $11,500 walk-in cooler to support the county’s 400-plus body count case load each year.
Previously, the county has driven bodies about three-hours each way in order to house, process and investigate dead bodies.