BEND, OREGON - OCTOBER 15: A woman grieves at a candlelight memorial out front of Silver Rail Elementary School on Oct. 15, 2026 in Bend, Oregon. GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
A teenager shot and killed three children and a teacher on Oct. 15 at an elementary school in the U.S. state of Oregon, police said, adding the assailant was later killed by an armed bystander who pursued him into the building.
Officers rushed to Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, a city of about 100,000 in the nation’s northwest, after reports of a shooter on campus on Oct. 15 afternoon.
The three children who died on the scene were aged 5, 8 and 11, said Bend police chief Mike Krantz. Another child and a teacher were being treated for critical injuries after the shooting.
The United States, where firearms are readily available, has a long and painful history of gun violence, with thousands of people killed every year. It has the highest rate of gun-related deaths among all developed nations.
People gathered in the city’s Drake Park on Oct. 15 evening for a candlelight vigil remembering the victims.
Krantz told journalists that the department first learned of an active shooter after a call from a person who reported being shot at multiple times by a person carrying a long gun.
Officers arrived within minutes of the calls, he said.
“Moments later, an officer reported that the suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him,” Krantz said.
“Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead.”
