A shooter opened fire inside Silver Rail Elementary School in southeast Bend, Oregon, shortly before 1 p.m. on Thursday. Police say three children and a teacher were killed.
The 16-year-old shooter is dead. He was shot inside the school by a community member who followed him in.
Update, Thursday night: the toll is confirmed, and so is who stopped him
Police have confirmed the dead. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were killed. "Another child and teacher were injured and taken to the hospital," he said. Police have not released their conditions or any names.
That matches what anonymous sources told reporters this afternoon. Three children and one adult, or five dead counting the shooter, were the same count.
The shooter was stopped by a community member, not police. Authorities say the 16-year-old was killed by a community member who pursued him into the school. Gov. Tina Kotek thanked the person who "heroically intervened to stop further loss of life." Fox News, citing federal officials, reports the bystander was armed and had a concealed carry permit. That person has not been named. This afternoon police said they did not know who fired. Authorities have now given that account on the record.
He shot his way in. Officials say he forced entry by shooting at locked doors. The district says new classroom locks went in at Silver Rail as part of a 2022 bond safety project covering roughly 3,200 doorways across Bend-La Pine. How far he got inside has not been made public.
The car. The first call, at 12:59 p.m., came from a person in a vehicle outside the school who said they had been shot at by someone with a "long gun," Krantz said. Officials quoted by the AP and Fox describe the weapon as a shotgun.
The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and had 459 students last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education.
"No community should have to live through this day," Kotek said.
What police have said on the record
The first call was not about the school. Just before 1 p.m., Bend Police received a report of someone shooting into a car. About a minute later, multiple 911 callers said that person had walked into the building and started firing.
"Our officers were on scene at approximately 1:02 p.m.," police spokesperson Sheila Miller said at a briefing. Seconds later, she said, "we received word over the radio that the suspect in this incident was down."
Miller said at least two people were taken to St. Charles Medical Center and that "the victims include children." She said the total number of victims was not yet clear. Asked who shot the suspect, she said it was unclear and "may have been a bystander."
Police say there will be a large law enforcement presence at the school and at the reunification site "for the foreseeable future."
What we reported Thursday afternoon, before police confirmed it
The death toll. Multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News, CNN and OPB that three children and one adult were killed. Two officials told the Associated Press that five people are believed dead, without saying whether that includes the shooter; Fox News reports five including the shooter. Four victims plus the shooter reconciles the numbers, but no official count has been released.
The shooter. Sources told CBS News and CNN he was 16. Police have not identified him, and we are not naming him.
Who stopped him. Sources have described a bystander, a "good Samaritan." That may prove right. It is also exactly the kind of first-day detail that tends to change, and police themselves have said they do not yet know.
The response
The FBI's local office is on scene, Director Kash Patel said. A law enforcement source told CBS News the ATF is assisting along with Oregon State Police. Nearby Caldera High School and Jewell Elementary went into lockdown.
Police sent families to Journey Church, 61303 S Highway 97, as a reunification site. Hundreds of parents gathered there through the afternoon. At 3 p.m. children were still being brought out, and police said clearing the building room by room would take several hours.
Silver Rail has more than 400 students. Bend-La Pine Schools has canceled classes and football games on Friday.
"We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy," Superintendent Steven Cook said. The district's priorities, he said, are caring for students and staff and helping law enforcement.
Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang told OPB the county is assembling mental health professionals to support children and families.
Erin Johnson, who lives nearby, told OPB she heard what she thought were gunshots. "But they're babies," she said.
The statements
Gov. Tina Kotek said she is "closely monitoring the situation at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend" and thanked first responders.
Rep. Janelle Bynum, whose district includes Bend, paused her campaign for the day. "Our babies are supposed to do arts and crafts at school, not use their desks as cover from gunfire," she said. "When will it end?"
Sen. Ron Wyden: "The best way to honor these victims is to at long last pass common-sense gun laws."
Bend Police: "We know what a very difficult time this is for our community."
Bend, again
This is the second mass shooting in Bend in a little over four years. In August 2022, a gunman killed two people at the Safeway in the Forum Shopping Center, including a 66-year-old employee, Donald Surrett Jr., who police said tried to disarm him and saved lives.
Nationally, the K-12 School Shooting Database counted 235 shooting incidents at US K-12 schools last year, and at least 149 so far this year, including Thursday's.
What to watch
The names of the victims, once their families have been notified. We will not publish names before that.
The conditions of the injured child and teacher.
The community member who stopped him: who they are, and the account of how they followed him in.
How far he got, and what the new locks did and did not do.
Motive and the weapon, including how a 16-year-old obtained a gun.
This is a developing story, last updated Thursday night, October 15. The death toll has now been confirmed by Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz. The account of the bystander comes from authorities and Gov. Kotek; the concealed carry detail is from federal officials cited by Fox News. We are not naming the suspect or the victims.
