Australian basketball players Staci Richardson and Cody Davison were just minutes away from crossing paths at the Oregon college where nine people were killed and seven injured.
Richardson, from Melbourne, and Davison, from the Gold Coast, study at the Umpqua Community College and play on its basketball team.
They planned to be at the library at 10.30am on Thursday to print out an assignment, but a friend asked them to pick him up, so they were late.
The shooting was first reported at 10.40am.
Australian Umpqua Community College student Staci Richardson. Source: Facebook
The library was just 20 metres away from where authorities allege the gunman, 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, went on the shooting rampage.
"They were supposed to be in the library but were running late," Rob Richardson, Staci's father, told AAP.
"They were about to arrive and they received a message that said there was a guy running loose with a gun."
The Umpqua Riverhawks are filled with Australasians, with the coach Daniel Leeworthy from Australia and New Zealanders Tama Green and Jaylen Gerrand on the squad.
Australian Umpqua Community College student Cody Davison. (Facebook) Source: Facebook
Gerrand was uninjured, but was reportedly running alongside another student who was shot dead.
He told Radio New Zealand he was running and saw someone shot in the head.
"I didn't know who they were ... there was all just a rush of things. I ran until I got out of campus," he said.
Mr Richardson said he didn't know about the shootings until a concerned friend in Melbourne woke him up with a phone call at 6am to say he heard on the news what had happened at the college.
"He's taking it all in," Mr Richardson, describing Staci's reaction, said.
The gunman opened fire at a Umpque Community College in southwest Oregon on Thursday, killing nine people and wounding seven others before police shot him to death, authorities said, in the latest mass killing to rock an American campus.
The suspect was slain in an exchange of gunfire with police at the college in Roseburg following the rampage shortly after 10:30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT).
He was not identified by authorities, who said they were still investigating his motives, but CBS, CNN, NBC and the New York Times named him as 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer, citing anonymous law enforcement sources.
Alleged Oregon Community College gunman Chris Harper-Mercer. (My Space) Source: My Space
"He appears to be an angry young man who was very filled with hate," the Times quoted one law enforcement official as saying.
CNN reported that three handguns and a "long gun" belonging to him were recovered from the scene and that the gunman was specifically targeting Christians.
They reported the father of wounded student Anastasia Boylan said the gunman ordered the students to stand up if they were Christians.
"And they would stand up and he said, 'Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second'," Boylan's father, Stacy, told CNN.
The massacre is the latest in a series of mass shootings at US college campuses, movie theaters, military bases and churches in recent years and marked the deadliest since a shooting rampage in June at a South Carolina church that killed nine.
The killings have fueled demands for more gun control in the United States, where ownership of firearms is protected by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, and better care for the mentally ill.
President Barack Obama, speaking just hours after the rampage, said the mass killing should move Americans to demand greater gun controls from elected officials.
"Somehow this has become routine," a visibly angry Obama said. "The reporting is routine. My response here, at this podium, ends up being routine. ...We’ve become numb to this."
Kortney Moore, 18, told the local News Review newspaper that she was in her writing class in Snyder Hall when a gunshot came through the window and struck her teacher in the head.
Moore said the gunman told people to get on the ground, then asked them to stand up and state their religion before he started shooting.
Freshman Kenny Ungerman told NBC that said he saw the shooter, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, carrying a handgun as he went into the building, followed by gunshots and screams. Student Cassandra Welding told CNN that she heard 35 to 40 shots.
Student Brady Winder, in a posting on Facebook, said he was in a classroom next door to the room where the shooting began and ran, along with his classmates, when they heard the gunfire.
"I ran to the edge of the campus, down a hill and waited. From talking with a student in the classroom where it happened, almost every person in the room was shot by a man with four guns," Winder, 23, wrote.
"I'm still shaken up ... I can't wrap my mind around this. Please just pray for the families and parents of these students," he posted.
Jessica Vazquez, left, hugs her aunt, Leticia Acaraz, as they await word on Acaraz's daughter after a deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College, in Roseburg, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. (Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard via AP) Source: AP
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said three of the shooting victims were listed in critical condition on Thursday evening.
PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center emergency room doctor Hans Notenboom told reporters three women between the ages of 18 and 34 were flown to the hospital in Riverbend by helicopter, and two were moved directly into operating room.
Survivors were transported to a local fairgrounds and some family members were left waiting for hours to see if their loved ones would be among them.
"We have grief counselors waiting for those parents who have no children getting off that bus," said the college's president, Rita Calvin.
The college, which began its fall term this week and serves more than 13,000 students, 3,000 of them full-time, said it would be closed until Monday. A candlelight vigil was scheduled for nightfall.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on their way to Roseburg.
Hannah Miles, right, sits with her sister Hailey after Hannah was reunited with her family in Roseburg, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, after a deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College. (Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard via AP) Source: AP
Shootings increasing in the US
In 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US released an analysis that revealed the numbers of "active shooter" incidents had increased since 2000.
An active shooter is defined as an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area, the FBI says in their report. The report did not consider drug or gang violence.
Between 2000 and 2013, there were an average of between 11 and 12 active shooter incidents annually.
The number of active shooter incidents increased in those 14 years, the FBI says.
The number of casualties in the FBI analysis includes people who died and people who were wounded.
The worst shootings in the US
The fatal shootings at an Oregon community college on Thursday were the latest of many deadly rampages in the United States.
Below are some of the worst shooting incidents in recent years, ranked by the number of dead, including the shooter:
Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007 - A gunman slaughters 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Sandy Hook, December 14, 2012 - A gunman kills 20 children and six adults and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Columbine, April 20, 1999 - Two heavily armed teenagers go on a rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, shooting 12 students and a teacher and wounding more than 20 others before taking their own lives.
Immigration center, April 3, 2009 - A Vietnamese immigrant opens fire at an immigrant services center in Binghamton, New York, killing 13 people and wounding four. He then kills himself.
Fort Hood, November 5, 2009 - A gunman opens fire at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 32. The gunman, an Army major and psychiatrist, was sentenced to death for the rampage.
Washington Navy Yard, September 16, 2013 - A former Navy reservist working as a government contractor kills 12 people and at the Washington Navy Yard. Eight people are injured. The gunman was killed by police.
Colorado movie theater, July 20, 2012 - A masked gunman kills 12 people and wounds 70 when he opens fire on moviegoers at a midnight premiere of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, a Denver suburb. A former graduate student is sentenced to life in prison for the rampage.
Washington DC, snipers, October 2002 - Two men ambush 13 people, killing 10 of them, in a string of sniper-style shootings that terrorize the Washington DC, area.
Oregon College, October 1, 2015 - A gunman bursts into a community college in southwest Oregon and opens fire, killing nine people and wounding seven others before police shoot him to death.
Charleston church, June 17, 2015 - A white supremacist gunman kills nine black churchgoers during a Bible study session at a historic, predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect is awaiting trial.
Waco bikers, May 17, 2015 - Rival motorcycle gangs kill nine at a restaurant in Waco, Texas. More than 170 people are arrested.
Grandfather kills family, September 18, 2014 - Man kills his daughter and six grandchildren in Bell, Florida, and then kills himself.
Oikos University, April 2, 2012 - A former student kills seven students at Oikos University, a small Christian school in Oakland, California. The suspect is awaiting trial.
Sikh temple, August 5, 2012 - A white supremacist walks into a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, shoots six worshippers and wounds four others, including a policeman. The gunman kills himself after being shot by a police officer.
Florida apartment, July 26, 2013 - A man goes on a shooting spree at an apartment complex in Hialeah, Florida, killing six people. The shooter is killed by police.
Congresswoman assassination attempt, January 8, 2011 - Then-U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords is the target of an assassination attempt by a gunman in Tucson, Arizona, in which six people are killed and 13, including Giffords, are wounded.
Television journalists, August 26, 2015 - A reporter and a cameraman are fatally ambushed by a former employee of their Roanoke, Virginia, television station while they are interviewing a woman on live TV. The woman is wounded. The gunman later kills himself as police pursue him on a highway hours after the shooting.
