What we know about the Oregon elementary school shooting that left 4 dead, plus suspect
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Oct. 16, 2026, 12:09 AM EDTBy Marlene Lenthang
Three young children and a teacher were killed Thursday afternoon in a horrific shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, and a teenage suspect was fatally shot by a good Samaritan who pursued him.
The shooter forced entry into Silver Rail Elementary School by firing through the locked doors around 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET), Bend police said.
Police arrived within three minutes and learned the suspect had been shot and killed.
Many questions remain about the motive and how the shooter gained access to the long gun used in the attack.
Here's what we know.
Timeline
Police arrived within three minutes of the first call for help.
Deschutes County dispatch received a call at 12:59 p.m. PT from a person in a vehicle saying they were being "shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun," Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a news conference Thursday evening.
In the ensuing minutes, dispatch received "dozens" of 911 calls reporting that a shooter had entered the K-5 school, he said.
A tone alert was issued at 1 p.m. telling all law enforcement officers to report to a critical incident.
One minute later, the school was directed to go into lockdown.
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Bend superintendent speaks after elementary school shooting
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At 1:02 p.m., the first Bend police officers arrived and moments later learned that a 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.
Officials did not say how far the gunman got into the school, which has more than 400 students and over 40 staff members.
Officers entered the school, confirmed the suspect was dead and began to evacuate it, busing people to a reunification center at a nearby church and providing aid to the victims.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek praised the courage of the school's staff members, parents and first responders and the unidentified community member who "heroically intervened to stop further loss of life."
The victims
Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and an adult teacher were killed. Their identities were not publicly disclosed, but their families were notified, Krantz said.
A 7-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to St. Charles Medical Center — Bend with critical injuries, he said.
What we know about the suspect
Officials identified the suspect as a 16-year-old Bend resident but did not disclose his name.
Authorities declined to say how many shots were fired.
A Bend resident who was walking near the school Thursday afternoon heard at least six shots ring out.
"They were spaced out, which made us question whether it was gunshots or someone doing construction," Leah Schwartz told NBC News.
Police said they are still investigating the suspect and did not say whether he previously attended the school or knew anyone who did.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives received the results of an urgent trace on the long gun used by the gunman Thursday evening, a source familiar with the investigation and the crime scene said.
Authorities have not said how the shooter got access to the weapon. In Oregon, a person must be 18 to purchase rifles and shotguns and 21 for handguns. It is illegal to sell firearms to minors.
However, people under 18 can legally possess firearms if they have parental consent, in which case they may use non-handgun firearms. Minors can also temporarily possess firearms for lawful reasons, such as hunting or target practice.
The investigation
Krantz said there will be a large law enforcement presence at the school for several days.
"This is going to be a long investigation," he said.
Kotek, the governor, said that the Oregon Department of Emergency Management is coordinating across multiple state agencies and that "the state stands ready to support" the community. The ATF and the FBI were also assisting.
All schools in the Bend-La Pine Schools district, as well as activities and athletic events, are canceled Friday.
Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said Thursday that it was an "awful day for our community."
"A school should be a safe place where children can learn and feel secure," she said.
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Has trump said, "small potatoes" yet?
it probably wouldn't have happened if the school had the 10 commandments posted at all the entrances ...
So sad. Really tragic and terrible.
So a press conference on this is currently going on: Seems the shooter was a 'special needs' student (at this specific school) and injured and killed other 'special needs' kids (and a teacher). Apparently, the early impression that kids were shot outside the school is not accurate?
From reporting it is known that with the exception of the shooting of the pickup truck and the shooting of the glass door to gain entrance, all the victims were shot inside the school. The shooter was a special needs student who had attended this school but was not currently attending it as this school was only up to grade 5 and the shooter was 16.
This was a tragic occurrence, one has to wonder when people are going to finally realize that the common issue here is the person who needed help and needed to be kept away from weapons. Oregon, a deep blue and progressive state, already has a lot of those so-called "common sense" gun restrictions and yet this shooting still happened. Oregon gun laws mandate firearms in homes and unattended vehicles be secured from minors under the age of 18 yet this 16 year old shooter was able to gain access to the shotgun. Will the parents be held accountable for failing to insure this law was followed and who's failure allowed these deaths?
I've heard several Democrats out there pounding the drums for "common sense" gun laws after this incident, which is rather predictable. But this is really a people problem.
It has been reported by CNN that there has been 54 school shooting in 2026. I would call that a "national emergency." That said, I am not willing to argue "gun debate."
I agree with you calling it a national emergency. But I restate that it's a people problem. There are too many people who think they can take a gun rather than argue. Looking at this shooting, there are people who are not mentally competent who seem to have access to guns while the people around them tend to ignore the signs. From other shootings we have seen that people close to the shooters dismiss concerns rather than report them or help to defuse the situation. This is what I mean when I say it's a 'people problem'.
We see people who will pound their chests expounding on the issues and demanding that "government" fix the problem. But those people will not follow through unless the incident is happening right in their kitchen because too many people are basically lazy in a civic sense. I don't know how to fix that, about the only thing I can see would be a long term (generational) change starting with young children in primary school. Unfortunately I don't see that happening as too many people want a quick fix so they can go back to their evening television.
Thankfully, there was a hero carrying a gun in violation of these laws who shot and killed the psycho before he could have done even more damage.
He'll probably get arrested for saving lives.
Nationally, a discussion could be started on what is in the 'water' that is causing kids and adults to want to traumatize, brutalize, savage, and kill 'near' babies wholesale. It can't be due to bullying. . . . These are outsiders literally forcing their way into schools as if stalking prey. This has not always been the case.
Finally! The elusive good guy with a gun shows up. Now the odds of this happening are up a good 0.01% or so. Gun nuts rejoice!
Why?
And people died anyway.
Why are you so bothered that a man saved lives by shooting a school shooter before the police could?
Are you mad he saved lives by violating gun control laws?
I don't know how to make this more clear "there was a hero carrying a gun in violation of these laws "
Bothered? Lol, you sure come up with some bizarre conclusions.
I'd call mocking people for being happy that a good guy with a gun broke the law and stopped the murders of kids bizarre.
Don’t let me rain on your parade. Your unicorn has arrived!
a slight variation of that same twisted maga logic has americans paying twice as much for gas and groceries ...
I have doubts that this could actually be started as most people don't want to accept any issues they may be having, they would rather just blame someone / something else. IMO this would need to be forced on the national conscience thru ongoing education and social media, not to mention getting Hollywood involved. But I just cannot see people doing this on their own. Just look at how the two sides are on this very site, there are very few conversations as too many people would rather demagogue than listen.
Some of it is I'm afraid. I recall there have been some school shootings where the shooter was not killed by police but rather taken into custody and later had stated they were 'getting even'. There have also been several reports of young children bringing guns to school in their backpacks because they were tired of being picked on.
As I said above, it will take a long while to make any changes to the population. It could take generations. After all, it took a long time for us to get to this point also. Back when we were kids, there were very few incidents with guns as most incidents were handled by fists.
As it should be today. . . question is: What changed? Did guns / murder-suicide become a 'Cure-all'? It is terribly hard to believe all the "geniuses" we have in the rocket/space-age/ colonizing space - world of ours that this human feature of our nature is so wretchedly broken!
I mean 'something' is literally attacking the nation's children, and the adults are staring like:
Er, it would be a down-right shame to take this to the moon and Mars. . . I would think we would want to 'fix- this ' here before we 'arrive' on other worlds.
Even if they stopped selling anything but single shot hunting rifles, there are too many fire arms in circulation in this country.
It would still take generations....
I'm sure the Bend DA is weighing his chances of getting a Grand Jury to press charges for "violating" Oregon ORS 166.370, the 1,000 foot rule. /s
I'm just as sure that the US Atty Scott Bradford would be gung ho to call a Grand Jury for the Federal 1.000 foot rule. /s
Giamanco's statements to the police were that under those rules and his Oregon Concealed Carry Permit, the firearm was unloaded and locked in a box which he had to retrieve before entering the school and that the additional time to retrieve and load may have cost lives or injuries that he feels guilt over not having prevented.
No one is going to prosecute this guy.
Absolutely not. Never. It would be unthinkable.
Trump, republicans, and the NRA most probably are going to want to host Giamanco at the White House before the mid-terms? Think: political 'gold.' (And y'all know how much Trump loves it!)