School Shooting
A 16-year-old gunman kills three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school before a bystander shoots him dead.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz confirmed the dead Thursday evening. A 16-year-old gunman killed three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school that afternoon before a bystander shot him dead.
The children killed were 5, 8 and 11 years old. A 7-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher went to a hospital in critical condition, Krantz told reporters, according to NBC News and ABC News. Families were notified. Their identities have not been released.
Silver Rail Elementary School sits in Bend, a central Oregon city of about 100,000 people, the Guardian reported. The school teaches kindergarten through fifth grade and enrolls roughly 450 students with more than 40 staff members, the BBC and the Guardian reported. Just before 1 p.m. local time, a 911 caller reported someone firing a long gun into their car. Dozens of calls describing a shooter inside the school followed within minutes. He had shot through locked doors to force his way in, Krantz said.
A community member watched the gunman enter the building, followed him inside and shot him dead, BBC News reported. Officers reached the scene three minutes after the first call. The suspect was already dead. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek called the bystander's intervention heroic and said the person carries "a heavy emotional burden."
Police have not named the suspect, a Bend resident, and have not said whether he had any connection to the school. He used a pump-action shotgun, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press, as reported by the Guardian. Officials have not said how he obtained it. Oregon law bars anyone under 18 from buying a rifle or shotgun, though minors may possess one with parental consent for uses such as hunting.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting Bend police, ABC News reported. Krantz called it the start of "a long investigation." All 32 schools in the Bend-La Pine district closed Friday. Superintendent Steven Cook said the community needs time to grieve.
At least 100 shootings have struck US school grounds in 2026, killing 33 people, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, the Guardian reported.