Oregon School Gunman Kills Four Before Armed Resident Stops Him

Bend (GNP): A 16-year-old gunman killed four people, including three children, at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday before being killed by an armed member of the community who had followed him into the building, police said.

According to police, the suspect got into Silver Rail Elementary School by firing through locked doors. Officials have not shared any details about the shooter beyond his age.

Those killed were children aged 5, 8 and 11 and one teacher. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told a press conference that a 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital with critical injuries.

Krantz said the community member, who has not been identified, saw the suspect enter the school and pursued him. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, speaking at the same briefing, thanked that person for heroically intervening to stop further loss of life.

The police timeline shows how quickly events unfolded. Emergency responders received a call at 12:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by someone with a long gun. In the minutes that followed, dozens of calls reported that the shooter had entered the school, and law enforcement immediately directed the school into lockdown.

Officers arrived at 1:02 pm, and moments later one of them reported that the suspect had been shot. Police then entered the building and confirmed that the suspect was dead.

Krantz said every Bend police officer completed a full day of active shooter training in August. He described such preparation as something the force must carry out regularly, and he warned that a long investigation lies ahead.

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The attack hit a close-knit community. Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in rural central Oregon, roughly 175 miles (280 km) southeast of Portland, next to the Deschutes National Forest. Silver Rail Elementary serves children from kindergarten to fifth grade, roughly ages 5 to 11, and has about 450 students and 40 staff members.

Kotek spoke of the grief ahead, saying the community would cry together and privately as it learns more about those killed or injured and their families.

The shooting has also revived a familiar national argument. School shootings have become a recurring feature of American life, with earlier attacks at Columbine High School in 1999, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Each one reopens the debate over gun laws in a country where gun rights are protected by the Second Amendment, and gun rights advocates have argued for arming teachers as a means of defence.

Gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived a mass shooting in 2011, said she was heartbroken by the Bend attack. She called on leaders at every level to step up and act, saying the situation cannot continue.

Tina Kotek said, “No parent should have to have this kind of day, and no community should.”