Bend Oregon School Shooting: 3 Students, Teacher Killed

Three young students and a teacher were killed when a 16-year-old opened fire at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, in one of the deadliest school shootings in the state in recent years. The teenage gunman was shot dead by a bystander who followed him into the building, police said.

The attack at Silver Rail Elementary School began shortly before 1 p.m., when the teen — armed with a pump-action shotgun he obtained from his mother, according to a law enforcement official cited by the Associated Press — first fired at a driver in the school parking lot, then shot his way through locked doors into the building.

The three children killed were ages 5, 8, and 11. A 54-year-old teacher also died. A 7-year-old student and another teacher, 54, were taken to the hospital with critical injuries, according to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz.

Bend Oregon School Shooting: How the Attack Unfolded

According to police, the first 911 call came at 12:59 p.m. from a man in a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck who reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun in the school’s parking lot. The teen shattered the truck’s rear window, leaving at least six bullet holes in the vehicle, local reporting indicated.

The shooter then threw his weapon over a fence, jumped onto school property, picked the shotgun back up, and fired several shots into the locks to break into the school, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade.

“A community member who saw the teenager entering Silver Rail Elementary School at about 1 p.m. followed him in before engaging him in a gunfire, killing him before responding officers arrived,” Chief Krantz said at a Thursday evening news conference.

Officers arrived within minutes of the first call, but the gunman was already dead inside the school by the time police entered, department spokesperson Sheila Miller said.

What Police Have Confirmed

• The shooter was a 16-year-old Bend resident; police have not released his name or identified a motive.
• He used a pump-action shotgun purchased by his mother, a law enforcement official told the AP on condition of anonymity.
• Police do not know whether the teen attended the school or knew any of the victims.
• Two victims — a 7-year-old child and a teacher — were hospitalized in critical condition.
• The school was placed on lockdown, and families were directed to a reunification point.

Community Reels After the Shooting

Thousands of mourners attended a candlelight vigil Thursday evening, where church leaders and officials spoke of the shock gripping Bend, a city of about 107,000 along the Deschutes River in central Oregon, roughly 165 miles southeast of Portland.

“My heart is absolutely broken today, and our hearts will stay broken in the days and weeks ahead,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said, praising the bystander who she said “heroically intervened to stop further loss of life.”

Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Oregon) lamented, “our kids are getting shredded,” telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “The most heartbreaking thing, as the details have surfaced, is that we have a child involved in the killing of other children.”

Former Bend Mayor Jeff Eager said, “You can’t imagine that it happens here. Bend is a place that people move to from bigger cities. They move here because it’s relatively safe here, they move here because we have schools you can walk your kids to.”

School Canceled, Investigation Ongoing

The Bend-La Pine school district canceled classes and all extracurricular events for Friday, Oct. 16. Silver Rail Elementary, which enrolled 459 students last year, will remain closed as the investigation continues.

FBI agents are on the scene assisting Bend police, and FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau would make every resource available to local investigators.

Chief Krantz has cautioned that the investigation will be “long,” with authorities still working to establish the full sequence of events and a motive for the attack.

Gun Law Questions After Bend Oregon School Shooting

The shooting immediately renewed national debate over school security and gun access by minors. In Oregon, a person must be 18 to buy rifles and shotguns and 21 to purchase a handgun. Those under 18 can possess non-handgun weapons with parental consent, though it is unclear whether the shooter had consent to use the shotgun.

The tragedy marks the 36th shooting on K-12 school grounds this year, according to CNN’s analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety, and the 28th mass killing of 2026 in the United States, according to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database.

This is a developing story. Authorities are expected to release more details as the investigation continues.