Three Children and a Teacher Killed in Bend. Weep With Those Who Weep.
Police say a 16-year-old forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, killing three children and a teacher before a community member shot him.
Three children and a teacher were killed Thursday afternoon when a 16-year-old forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, and opened fire, police said. A 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were critically wounded. The gunman was shot and killed by a community member who saw him enter the school and went in after him.
The children who died were 5, 8 and 11 years old, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a news conference Thursday evening, ABC News reported.
What police have said
At 12:59 p.m. Pacific time, police received a call from a driver who said he had been shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun, according to ABC. Moments later, 911 calls began coming in reporting that a shooter had entered the school. Krantz said the initial investigation shows the teen "forced" his way in by shooting through locked doors.
The school was ordered into lockdown at 1:01 p.m. A minute later, officers arrived. By then, Krantz said, an officer reported that the suspect had been shot by a community member who saw the teen entering the school, pursued him and engaged him. The Associated Press also reported that the suspect was found dead inside the school minutes after the shooting was first reported. Officers pronounced the shooter dead and gave aid to the victims, The Bulletin of Bend reported. The wounded were taken to St. Charles hospital in Bend.
Police have not named the shooter or the person who stopped him. They have not said whether the teen had any connection to the school. More information is expected Friday.
Silver Rail has about 450 students, according to The Bulletin. Officers evacuated the building room by room, and families were reunited with their children at Journey Church nearby. Classes and activities across Bend-La Pine Schools are canceled Friday, and crisis counselors will be available starting at 9 a.m. at the Central Library.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek thanked teachers, staff and first responders and the community member who she said "heroically intervened to stop further loss of life." Superintendent Steven Cook called it an "unthinkable tragedy." "We are heartbroken. We are horrified," he said. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was helping with the investigation.
Krantz said every Bend police officer went through a full day of active-threat training at a local high school in August. "Unfortunately this is something we train for on a regular basis and we must," he said.
What we do not know yet
As of late Thursday, police had not publicly named any of the victims. Early reports after shootings are often incomplete. Names, motives and details will come in the days ahead, and some first accounts will change. As Dock Line has written before, what we don't know matters as much as what we do. This is not the night for theories about the shooter or for using these children to score points.
Weep with those who weep
Tonight there are parents in Bend who sent a child to school in the morning and will not tuck that child into bed. There is a classroom that has lost its teacher. There are hundreds of children whose school day ended in a lockdown. Two people are fighting for their lives.
Scripture does not ask us to explain this. It tells us to "weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15). Jesus, standing at the grave of his friend, wept (John 11:35), even though he knew what he was about to do. Grief is not a lack of faith. It is love that has lost its object.
Scripture also does not pretend that evil is anything other than evil. Whatever led a 16-year-old to do this, the murder of children is a wickedness that cries out to God, and God hears. Jesus said of little children, "of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14). They are precious to him.
There is also courage to honor. Teachers and staff, whom the governor thanked, cared for children through an evacuation room by room. Officers arrived within minutes. A community member saw a gunman entering a school and went after him. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). We will learn more about that person in time. For now it is enough to say thank you.
Pray for the families of the four who died. Pray for the child and the teacher in the hospital. Pray for the children of Silver Rail, their teachers and the officers who saw what they saw. And pray for the shooter's family, who are living a nightmare of their own. "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart" (Psalm 34:18). Bend's hearts are broken tonight.
Hero photo: Everwest / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (license).
