A quiet Thursday afternoon at an Oregon elementary school turned into a nightmare when a teenage gunman shot his way through locked doors.
The 16-year-old forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, killing three children and a teacher.
The children were five, eight and 11 years old. A seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were critically wounded and taken to St. Charles Medical Center. The gunman, a 16-year-old boy from Bend, was shot and killed inside Silver Rail Elementary School by a community member who had followed him in, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a news conference Thursday evening.
“Today an unthinkable tragedy happened at Silver Rail Elementary School,” Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said.
Authorities had not publicly released the names of those killed and said all of the families had been notified. The five-year-old’s father, Kelik Summer, identified his son as Rhoam in a community Facebook post, and fundraisers have been set up for the family.
The First Call Came at 12:59
At 12:59 p.m., a driver called 911 and said a person with a long gun had shot at him several times while he was in his vehicle. Dozens more calls poured into the Deschutes County dispatch center reporting that a shooter had gone into the school on SE Stone Creek Lane. The school was directed to lock down at 1:01 p.m. Officers arrived at 1:02 p.m., within three minutes of the first call.
The initial investigation shows the shooter forced his way inside by shooting at locked doors, Krantz said. Silver Rail got new classroom door hardware under a districtwide safety project, funded by a 2022 construction bond, that replaced about 3,200 door locks. The locks are secured from inside the classroom with a switch.
Irvin Ornelas, who was driving near the school, said he believes he saw the shooter heading toward the building where his 10-year-old brother is a student. Ornelas said he feared the worst until he learned his brother was safe.
A Community Member Pursued Him Inside
Officers who reached the school learned the attack had already been stopped. Krantz said an officer reported that a community member saw the suspect go inside, followed him and shot him. Police released no details about that person and said more information would likely come Friday, Oct. 16.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek thanked the community member for stepping in to prevent more deaths and said her thoughts were with him because of the emotional burden he now carries. Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said she is struggling to make sense of a loss that feels unimaginable.
Preliminary information indicates the 16-year-old used a pump-action shotgun that his mother bought, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. Police received the first call at 12:59 p.m., according to ABC News. Officials would not say publicly what weapon was used or how many rounds were fired. Police could not say whether the teenager attended Silver Rail or knew anyone there, and gave no motive.
Hundreds Gathered With Candles at Drake Park
Police evacuated the school room by room and took every student and staff member to Journey Church, where families were reunited. That night, about 7 p.m., hundreds of people filled Drake Park for a candlelight prayer vigil led by local pastors.
Classes, sports and extracurricular activities were canceled Friday, Oct. 16, at all 32 schools in the Bend-La Pine district. Kotek ordered flags at Oregon state public institutions flown at half-staff that day from sunrise to sunset. Crisis counselors were available at the Deschutes Public Library’s Central Library starting at 9 a.m., with drop-in support sessions there until 3 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Larkspur Community Center.
Silver Rail serves kindergarten through fifth grade and had 459 enrolled students, according to the Oregon Department of Education. Bend sits roughly 150 miles southeast of Portland. It is Oregon’s first deadly mass shooting at an elementary school. The state’s deadliest school shooting remains the 2015 attack at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, where nine people were killed and the gunman killed himself after exchanging fire with police.
FBI Portland agents responded to help local law enforcement, along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management is coordinating across state agencies. Investigators will remain at the school for several days, Krantz said, and officials planned to share more information Friday, Oct. 16.
Kathy Sheil Smith, a fifth grade teacher at Silver Rail, saw the shooter from her classroom window and alerted the front office. Then she hid her students in a corner of the room. “They were so afraid. The looks on their faces was really hard to see,” she told KPTV.
