Oregon School Shooting: Three Children, Teacher Killed as 16-Year-Old Suspect Dies
An Oregon elementary school shooting left 3 kids and a teacher dead at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, as authorities revealed.
They say the shooter was a 16-year-old suspect who got himself whacked inside the school after an armed community member apparently confronted him inside Silver Rail
A little kid & a teacher are in pretty bad shape and were carted off to hospital in Bend, according to the Schools Chief, Mike Krantz
The whole thing set off an emergency response – lockdowns, evacuations, the whole shebang as authorities scrambled to reunite the kids with their families.
Three Children and One Teacher Killed in Oregon School Shooting
Police say the 3 kids who died at the school were just 5, 8 & 11, while a teacher sadly didnt make it thru the ordeal. A 7 year old kid and a 54 year old teacher have also been rushed to hospital with pretty bad injuries.
Chief Krantz still hasnt figured out the circumstances behind the attack at Silver Rail Elementary
Its a big school, with around 400 kids & over 40 staff.
Police Reveal How the Oregon School Shooter Was Stopped
As told by Krantz, police first got wind of the thing when a worried caller phoned in to say they’d been shot at while inside the school with a long gun-wielding guy.
Then dozens more emergency calls came pouring in saying there was a shooter loose in the school, so the police in the area all sprang into action
The first officers on the scene arrived within minutes of getting the call, Krantz said. Which was 1:02 pm local time
A minute or so later, an officer called out that the suspect had been shot by a community member who chased the suspect into the school & confronted him
“Our police entered the building & confirmed the guy was dead,” Krantz said
Next the officers gave the victims emergency aid
Now the investigation is still pretty early on, but its looking like the shooter forced entry by shooting at the doors.
“There was just a load of reports he ‘forced his way in by shooting at locked doors’. “
The shooter had been identified as a 16 year old from Bend, but the police havent come up with a motive yet
Families Reunite With Children After Silver Rail Elementary Shooting
The shooting set off a lockdown at Silver Rail Elementary while emergency responders & cops rushed to secure the area.
Bend-La Pine School District said they’re busing students to a different location where their families could finally be reunited with them.
Superintendent Steve Cook was visibly shaken as he called the shooting “an unbelievable tragedy”.
“We’re just heartbroken. We’re utterly horrified. This is the kind of thing you hear about happening in other places – the kind of nightmare we never want to come home to in Bend,” he told reporters.
Parents nervously gathered near a local church, waiting with bated breath for news about their kids.
Drew Sharp, whose fifth-grader son was at the school, confided to CBS News: “Id have to say I’ve got faith he’s gonna be alright.”
Sharp mentioned the bus procedure, saying kids are being let off from youngest to oldest.
“Which, yeah, makes sense. But it’s just making this wait even longer,” he added.
The district then announced that classes, activities, & sports events were all cancelled for the day.
Oregon School District Cancels Classes Following Shooting
Bend-La Pine School District made the call to cancel classes & scheduled activities right across its schools for Friday. The community is still trying to come to terms with what happened.
Silver Rail Elementary is a school in Bend where kids go from kindergarten to fifth grade. The school’s located in Bend, a city of roughly 100,000 people in northwestern Oregon.
It’s about 170 miles southeast of Portland, where the kids ride the bus & go to school.
The district’s immediate priority was the safety of students, getting families back together & providing support after the shooting.
Oregon School Shooting Reignites Debate Over Gun Violence
The shooting has people talking about what the government can do to stop this sort of thing, even though we’ve had countless mass shootings in the US. People are demanding change – demanding we do something about the easy availability of guns.
Gun safety group GIFFORDS put out a statement on X saying their hearts are with the terrified kids & their families all waiting anxiously to hear that their loved ones are safe.
“Our hearts are with these terrified kids & their families, stuck in this nightmare, praying that they’ll be alright,” they wrote.
“We just can’t stand by & let this keep happening, this just has to end.”
Oregon congresswoman Janelle Bynum put out a statement condemning the violence, saying “They’re killing our babies. Leaving our kids in bits with bullets. Making us live in fear. Why are we letting this keep happening?”
Bynum spoke to CNN a little later on, saying:
“This just keeps happening, & it seems the grown-ups have just stopped giving a damn.”
The shooting is yet another chapter in this never-ending debate over how to stop school shootings & make schools safer. The investigation is still ongoing, with cops working to figure out what happened & who was involved.
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Oregon School Shooting: Three Children, Teacher Killed as 16-Year-Old Suspect Dies
