Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal blasted Chris Harper-Mercer's father in a blog post on Wednesday.
In the post entitled "We fill Our Culture With Garbage, And We Reap The Result," the Republican presidential candidate vented about how mass shootings such as the one at the Umpqua Community College campus last week in Roseburg are a "symptom of deep and serious cultural decay in our society."
Jindal wrote about American culture allowing boys to be raised on violent video games, about music that degrades women and TVs and movies that show a "continuous stream of grotesque killing."
He then turned his anger on Ian Mercer, the shooter's father.
"Now, let's get really politically incorrect here and talk specifically about this horror in Oregon. This killer's father is now lecturing us on the need for gun control and he says he has no idea how or where his son got the guns.
Of course he doesn't know. You know why he doesn't know? Because he is not, and has never been in his son's life. He's a complete failure as a father, he should be embarrassed to even show his face in public.
"He's the problem here."
Mercer, 55, did not return a call seeking comment.
A neighbor of Chris Harper-Mercer said that his mother had bad-mouthed her ex-husband and said that Mercer was not a part of her son's life.
Jindal continued to criticize Mercer highlighting comments the father had made to CNN in the days after the shooting. Mercer had said that he doesn't own any guns and called for changes to laws to address gun violence.
"He brags that he has never held a gun in his life and that he had no idea that his son had any guns," Jindal wrote. "Why didn't he know? Because he failed to raise his son. He should be ashamed of himself, and he owes us all an apology.
"When he was asked what his relationship was with his son, he said he hadn't seen him in a while because he lived with his mother. Case Closed."
-- Laura Gunderson
503-221-8378; @lgunderson
lgunderson@oregonian.com