Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie feels the pain of hometown Roseburg, Ore., after shootings

Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie spent the first 12 years of his life in Roseburg, Ore. He says he has fond memories of swimming with his brothers, watching basketball games at Umpqua Community College and riding his bike all over the small town.

On Thursday, that community was shaken badly when a gunman shot and killed at least nine people at the college before dying in a police shootout.

“Well, it just hits home,” Guthrie said before the Royals played the Chicago White Sox. “Obviously there’s a number of families I would still recognize and remember from when I lived there that I’m sure are still there. It’s a very small community.”

He added: “My father sold cars there in the community for 20-, 30-plus years so he knows far more people than I would ever know, but certainly in those smaller towns, everybody knows each other, so I’m sure there are many people that are directly feeling the pain today.”

Guthrie is a 12-year veteran who has made 30 appearances for the Royals this season, going 8-8 with an ERA of 5.95.

He said he first heard of the tragedy when a friend texted him to offer his condolences.

“We obviously all have the ability to go out and do harm, whether it’s with a gun or whether it’s through other forms of violence; that’s never the answer,” Guthrie said.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many people resort to that in recent times. All of us go through struggles; all of us have our challenges. Maybe we can show a little more love and compassion to those who are going through other things. Hopefully, the end result is that we can stop having to witness these types of tragedies.”