BEND, Oregon — Three children and a teacher were killed Thursday when a 16-year-old gunman forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, and opened fire, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said at an evening press conference. The shooter was shot and killed by a community member who saw him entering the school and followed him inside, before officers arrived.
Krantz confirmed the children killed were ages 5, 8 and 11, and that the teacher who died was 54. Two more victims — a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher — were taken to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend with critical injuries. Officers found five people dead at the scene, including the shooter.
Watch live NBC News coverage of the Bend shooting
What police have confirmed
- Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher, 54, were killed at Silver Rail Elementary School.
- Two victims, a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher, are in critical condition at St. Charles Medical Center.
- The shooter, a 16-year-old Bend resident, was killed by a community member who followed him into the school; he was dead before officers arrived. Police have not released his name.
- The gunman carried a long gun and forced entry by shooting at locked doors. Police declined to specify the type of weapon.
- Officers cleared the school room by room, and families were reunited at Journey Church on South Highway 97. Police said the families of all victims have been notified.
How the attack unfolded
Krantz said the first 911 call, at 12:59 p.m. PT, came from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun near the school. Within about two minutes, multiple callers reported a shooter inside the school. The community member saw the teenager entering with the long gun, pursued him inside and engaged him in gunfire, killing him, Krantz said. Police did not identify the community member.
“There are not really any words I can say to you that will make this better,” Krantz said, calling the attack a “terrible tragedy.” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, who joined the press conference, praised the community member, saying he “heroically intervened to stop further loss of life.”
Timeline
- 12:59 p.m. PT — First 911 call: a person in a vehicle reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun near the school. Within about two minutes, multiple calls reported a person shooting inside the school.
- 1:00 p.m. PT — Dispatch sent an alert to all officers.
- 1:02 p.m. PT — Officers arrived at the school; the suspect was already dead, killed by the community member.
- Afternoon — Police cleared classrooms one by one; students were taken to a reunification site at Journey Church on South Highway 97.
Silver Rail Elementary, at 61530 SE Stone Creek Lane, serves kindergarten through fifth grade. Police said the school has roughly 450 students and more than 40 staff; state records put enrollment at 459 last year.
Response
The FBI’s Portland division is on scene assisting local police, and FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau “will make every resource they need available.” The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police also responded.
Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said: “We are heartbroken. We are horrified.” All Bend-La Pine schools will be closed Friday, and all extracurricular and athletic events are cancelled. Krantz said all Bend police officers completed active-threat training in August.
Oregon’s leaders reacted across party lines. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, asked “how many schools must be shot up before Republicans agree to act to curb gun violence,” while Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson, speaking for the state House Republican caucus, called the violence “heartbreaking” and thanked first responders. State Sen. Christine Drazan, a Republican candidate for governor, said: “We have to commit to protecting our kids. We have to put a complete stop to shootings at our schools.” Rep. Janelle Bynum, the Democrat whose district includes Bend, called the shooting “every parent’s worst fear.”
The role of the armed community member who stopped the attack is already central to the debate the shooting has reignited. Fox News, citing federal law-enforcement sources, reported that the bystander held a concealed-carry permit and that one source credited him with preventing more deaths; Bend police have not confirmed those details. Gun-safety advocates pointed to the attack itself. Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, called it “every parent’s worst nightmare” and said: “No parent should have to wonder whether the school drop-off will be the last time they see their child.”
The Crime Prevention Research Center, a gun-rights research group, noted that Bend-La Pine is among the minority of Oregon school districts that bar staff from carrying firearms at school, a policy gun-rights supporters say leaves schools exposed and gun-safety groups say keeps guns out of classrooms.
The wider toll
The Bend attack is the 26th shooting on K-12 school grounds in 2026 that resulted in injuries or deaths, according to Education Week’s tracker, and the 36th shooting on K-12 grounds under CNN’s broader count of incidents in which at least one person was shot. By the measure of the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database, it is the 28th mass killing in the United States this year, 21 of them shootings.
It is also Oregon’s deadliest school shooting in more than a decade. The state’s deadliest, at Umpqua Community College near Roseburg on Oct. 1, 2015, killed a professor and eight students and wounded nine others. In 1998, a suspended student opened fire at Thurston High School in Springfield, killing two students and wounding 25. Silver Rail Elementary opened in 2015 in Bend, a city of roughly 107,000 in central Oregon, about 165 miles southeast of Portland.
What remains unknown
Police have not announced a motive or formally identified the shooter beyond his age and hometown, and have not said whether he had any connection to the school or had attended it. Authorities also have not confirmed how he obtained the weapon. The identity of the community member who stopped him has not been released.
Featured image: Zark News illustration. It does not depict Silver Rail Elementary School, the victims or the crime scene.
Developing: This article was updated October 15, 2026, with confirmed casualty figures from the Bend Police press conference, and will be revised as authorities release more information.
Sources: Bend Police Department press conference; Reuters; Associated Press; CNN; USA Today; Oregon Public Broadcasting; Education Week; Salem Statesman Journal; Fox News.
