Teen shooter kills four at Oregon elementary school; armed resident stops him
An Oregon school shooting on Thursday left three children and a teacher dead after a 16-year-old gunman opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, before an armed member of the public pursued him into the building and shot him dead, police said.
The Oregon school shooting unfolded at Silver Rail Elementary School, where the teenager fired through locked doors to force his way inside. Two more people, a seven-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher, were taken to hospital with critical injuries, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told a press conference.
The dead children were aged five, eight and eleven. Police have not released the shooter’s name or a possible motive, and Krantz said the investigation would be a long one.
Armed resident chased the gunman inside
According to Krantz, the first emergency call came at 12:59pm local time from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at several times by someone carrying a long gun. Within minutes, dozens of further calls reported that the shooter had entered the school, and officers ordered an immediate lockdown.
A community member who saw the suspect enter the school followed him inside and shot him. Officers reached the scene at 1:02pm, moments after an officer radioed that the suspect had been shot. Police entered the building and confirmed the gunman was dead.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, who appeared alongside Krantz at the briefing, thanked the resident who intervened. “No parent should have to have this kind of day, and no community should have to live through this kind of day,” she said.
Oregon school shooting: a city that had trained for this
Krantz said every officer in the Bend police department had completed a full day of active-shooter training in August. “Unfortunately, this is something we train for on a regular basis, and we must,” he said.
Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in rural central Oregon, roughly 280 kilometres southeast of Portland, set in the high desert near the Deschutes National Forest. Silver Rail Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade, ages five to eleven, with around 450 pupils and 40 staff.
Gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman who survived a mass shooting in 2011, said she was “heartbroken” by the attack. “This cannot continue to be a reality in our country. Leaders at every level must step up and act,” she said in a statement.
Why this shooting stands out
School shootings have recurred through American life for decades, from Columbine High School in 1999 to Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Each attack revives the national debate over gun laws in a country where gun ownership is protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
What sets the Bend attack apart is its ending. Most American school shootings end with the gunman taking his own life or being killed by police. Here, an armed civilian ended the rampage within minutes, before officers arrived. Gun rights advocates have long argued for arming teachers and staff as a line of defence; this case will almost certainly be cited on both sides of that argument in the weeks ahead.
For now, though, the facts are stark: four people dead at an elementary school, two more fighting for their lives, and a small Oregon city grieving children who went to school on Thursday morning and never came home.
*Source: Dawn*
FAQs
Where did the Oregon school shooting happen?
The shooting took place at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, a city of about 100,000 people in central Oregon, on Thursday.
How many people died in the Bend school shooting?
Four people were killed: three children aged five, eight and eleven, and one teacher. The 16-year-old shooter was also killed.
Who stopped the Oregon school shooter?
An armed member of the community saw the suspect enter the school, pursued him inside and shot him dead before police arrived, according to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz.
