Three children and a teacher died Thursday after a 16-year-old opened fire at a Bend elementary school. Police said an armed bystander shot the suspect dead inside the building.
A 16-year-old gunman shot and killed three children and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday afternoon before an armed bystander shot him dead inside the building, BBC News reported.
Emergency services received the first 911 call at 12:59 p.m. from a person reporting that an unknown suspect was firing a long gun into their vehicle, leaving bullet holes in a red truck. Dispatchers alerted officers at 1:00 p.m., Fox News reported. Within minutes, the county dispatch received multiple calls warning that the gunman had entered the school campus. Police said the shooter fired at locks on the doors to force his way inside.
The shooting and police response
A bystander who saw the gunfire start outside chased the attacker into the school and shot him dead, according to BBC News. When police officers arrived at the scene at 1:02 p.m., three minutes after the initial call, radio traffic quickly confirmed the suspect was down. Officers then moved room by room through the elementary school to search the campus and evacuate students and staff.
Law enforcement accounts differed slightly regarding the confirmation of the suspect’s death. Bend Police Department communications manager Sheila Miller said during an initial media briefing, “We don’t have confirmation yet who shot the suspect. It may have been a bystander.” Police later confirmed that a bystander had followed the attacker inside and killed him, BBC News reported. Authorities identified the shooter as a local 16-year-old boy, but they haven’t made public the names of the shooter, the bystander or the victims.
Victims and school community
The victims killed inside the school were three children aged 5, 8 and 11, along with one teacher, police said. Bend Fire medics transported two other injured people, a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher, to St. Charles hospital with critical injuries.
Silver Rail Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the Bend-La Pine school district and is led by Principal Lybe Hawkins. The school has between 400 and 450 students and more than 40 staff members. During the 2024-2025 school year, official records showed 459 students enrolled and about 30 teachers on staff. In 2022, the school received new doors equipped to lock classrooms with the flip of a switch.
The investigation and school closures
Hundreds of law enforcement personnel from agencies across Central Oregon went to the scene, joined by agents from the FBI’s Portland field office to assist with the investigation. Authorities directed families to Journey Church at 61303 S. Highway 97 for student reunification and asked the public to stay away from the surrounding neighborhood.
Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said in a statement, “We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy.” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Sen. Jeff Merkley stated that they were closely monitoring the situation, and Rep. Janelle Bynum called the event every parent’s worst fear.
All schools throughout the city of Bend will be closed on Friday to give the community time to heal, officials announced. The incident represents at least the 140th school shooting in the United States this year, following 235 school shootings recorded nationwide last year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
