BEND, OR — A shooting at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend left three children and a teacher dead Thursday after a 16-year-old forced his way into the school and opened fire, authorities said.
Bend Police said the suspect was shot by a person at the scene who pursued him into the building. Officers later found him dead inside the school minutes after the first shots were reported. Another child and a teacher were taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Police said the attack began just before 1 p.m. when the first 911 call came from a person in a vehicle outside the school who reported being shot at by someone with a long gun. More calls followed from inside the school as officers rushed to the scene.
Investigators say the suspect shot through locked doors to get inside
Authorities said the gunman used a pump-action shotgun and fired at locked doors to enter the school. Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said he was shot and went down inside the building shortly after officers arrived.
A law enforcement official briefed on the case said the shotgun had been purchased by the suspect’s mother. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
Police have not said whether the suspect knew anyone at the school or whether he had ever been a student there. Investigators were still working Thursday on those basic questions as they tried to piece together how the attack unfolded so quickly.
Victims included children ages five, eight and eleven
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said the three children who were killed were ages 5, 8 and 11. The teacher who died was 54. The other child hurt in the shooting was 7, and the second wounded victim was also a teacher, according to police.
The injured child and teacher were both listed in critical condition at the hospital. Officials did not immediately release their names. Police said the number of victims underscored how fast the attack spread through a school that served elementary-age students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Silver Rail Elementary had 459 enrolled students as of last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education. The campus sits more than 100 miles southeast of Portland, in a community that was thrown into emergency response mode within minutes.
A civilian who chased the suspect was praised by state officials
Governor Tina Kotek said at a Thursday night news conference that she was heartbroken by the killings and grateful to the person who intervened. She said the civilian’s actions helped stop further loss of life.
Kotek also acknowledged the strain that comes with confronting a shooter in a school setting. She said the person who pursued the gunman would carry a heavy emotional burden, and she expressed support for that individual as well as the victims’ families.
Police have not publicly identified the person who confronted the suspect. Officials said the intervention happened at the scene during the attack, before officers finished securing the building.
Parents waited for reunification as officers secured the campus
By early Thursday evening, reunification of children with their parents was still underway, according to authorities. That process became a central focus once the immediate danger passed and officers turned to accounting for every student and staff member.
School and law enforcement officials have not released a full timeline of when the building was cleared or when families were first told they could pick up their children. But the sequence of emergency calls, rapid police response and the later reunification effort showed how the school turned into a major crisis scene in a matter of minutes.
The attack shocked a city better known for outdoor recreation and steady growth than for a mass-casualty school shooting. Investigators remained on site Thursday night as the community began absorbing the scale of the violence.
Questions remain about motive and how the attack was planned
Even with the suspect dead, police said key questions were still unanswered. Investigators had not said what may have prompted the shooting, how long the suspect planned it or why he targeted the school.
Authorities also had not confirmed whether any warning signs were reported before the attack. The investigation was expected to focus on the suspect’s movements before he arrived at Silver Rail Elementary, the weapon he used and any connection he may have had to the school.
For now, police said the immediate facts were clear: a teenage suspect entered an elementary school with a shotgun, shot through locked doors, killed four people and wounded two others before being stopped at the scene.
