‘Miraculous’: Oregon mother praises bystander who stopped school gunman

Police in Bend, Oregon, were investigating on Friday (October 16) why a 16-year-old boy shot dead three children and a teacher at the Silver Rail Elementary School, and how he got hold of the long gun used in his attack.

The latest deadly school shooting in the United States unfolded on Thursday (October 15) afternoon when the teenager, who has not been publicly identified, shot through a locked door at the school in central Oregon, according to the Bend Police Department.

The teenager killed three children aged 5, 8 and 11 and one teacher before he himself was shot dead by an armed bystander who had pursued him into the school, Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a Thursday (October 15) evening press conference.

The bystander has not been publicly identified by police, though recordings of 911 emergency calls released by authorities include a dispatcher saying he was possibly a father of a child at the school.

“Thank God for that father. He saved a lot of lives yesterday,” said Michael Zappa, 71, who lives just blocks from the school. 

Brooke Olsen, the mother of a kindergartener who was safely reunited with her family after the shooting, said, “this is an extremely painful day of grief for everybody in Bend, especially Silver Rail families, and we have to think about what’s next for safety measures.”

Beyond those killed, a 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital with critical injuries.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of mourners prayed and left flowers at a growing makeshift memorial outside the school.

Silver Rail Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade, roughly ages 5 to 11, and has about 450 students and 40 staff members, officials said.

It was not clear if the shooter had any prior connection to the school, which has about 450 students from kindergarten through the fifth grade, roughly ages 5 to 11, and 40 staff members.

Some of the deadliest school attacks in the US include those at Columbine High School in 1999, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.

Advocates for gun-owners’ rights have argued for arming teachers as a means of defense. The Gun Owners of America advocacy group pointed to the armed bystander’s intervention in Bend as evidence for their position.