A teacher who tackled a 16-year-old gunman and a 36-year-old armed community member who fatally shot him helped bring an Oregon school attack to an end, potentially preventing further loss of life, officials said.
Their intervention saved lives on Thursday, Bend’s police chief said during a news conference.
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As investigators began piecing together the latest school shooting in the United States, police released additional details about the violence at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. Three children, aged five, eight and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were killed.
A 7-year-old child remained seriously but stably injured, while another teacher sustained serious injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz speaks during a press conference
The 36-year-old community member entered the school and opened fire on the suspect, killing him moments before police arrived.
The teacher, who was unharmed, “almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed,” Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said, his voice at times breaking with emotion.
“The teacher who was willing to stand and fight for her children, that’s true heroism,” he said. Authorities did not release her name.
Investigators said the suspect was seen throwing his weapon over the school fence shortly before the attack, then climbing over the fence to retrieve it and enter the school grounds.
Victims mourned
Residents of Bend, a city of roughly 100,000 people located about 280km southeast of Portland, gathered outside the school yesterday morning to grieve. Flowers and candles were placed along the yellow crime scene tape surrounding the campus.
A woman places flowers at a vigil outside of Silver Rail Elementary School
Michael Zappa, 71, praised the community member who confronted the gunman. “He saved a lot of lives yesterday, and our prayers should go out for him because he has a lot on his mind today,” he said.
School shootings in the US have become increasingly common in recent years.
According to the nonprofit K-12 School Shooting Database, 118 people have been wounded or killed in 149 incidents since the beginning of this year involving a gun fired or brandished at a school, or gunfire striking school property.
The Gun Violence Archive, another online tracker, has documented 371 mass shootings since January 2026. It defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are struck by gunfire, excluding the shooter.
Three of those incidents, including the shooting in Bend, took place at public schools, the archive said.
