Oregon School Shooting Sends Parents Rushing to Crisis Center

Frightened parents hurried to find their children at a family reunification center after a Thursday shooting at an Oregon elementary school left at least three children dead. Local officials described the attack as a “senseless tragedy.”

The shooting took place at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend after reports emerged at about 12:59 p.m. that shots had been fired into a vehicle near the campus.

Police reached the school by 1:02 p.m., and the lone shooter was killed moments later. Multiple reports identified the gunman as a 16-year-old boy.

“We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy,” Steven Cook, superintendent of Bend–La Pine Schools, said. Silver Rail Elementary is part of the district.

Cook continued: “We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and to everyone affected by this violence. No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing.”

Law enforcement officers were evacuating classrooms and directed parents to a reunification center established at Journey Church, located at 61303 S Highway 97.

Buses carrying students arrived at the church so children could be reunited with their families, the Bend Bulletin reported. Silver Rail Elementary has roughly 450 students.

Oregon Rep. Janelle Bynum said the shooting affected her “deep, deep, deep in my soul,” adding that “the whole nation should” feel the same impact.

“Our babies are supposed to do arts and crafts at school, not use their desks as cover from gunfire,” Bynum said. “They’re supposed to make friends, not mourn them.”

Bynum called the shooting “every parent’s worst fear” and asked, “When will it end?”

Bend–La Pine school board member Marcus LeGrand said at Journey Church that the immediate priority was helping students reunite with their families.

The school district would then turn its attention to mental health support and counseling for affected families, LeGrand told the Bend Bulletin.

A large crowd of terrified parents gathered outside the school after learning about the shooting.

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The school day and all activities scheduled for Friday were canceled.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden also addressed the deadly attack, saying parents and loved ones were “now facing the awful consequences of yet another school shooting in America.”

He called for gun-control legislation following the latest school shooting in the United States.

“The best way to honor these victims is to at long last pass common-sense gun laws that reduce the risks of more children, parents, teachers and staff being forced to live in fear of similar nightmares at their schools,” Wyden said.

Rep. Maxine Dexter said that schools ‘should be places of learning, friendship and joy.’ 

‘It is incumbent on me, and every lawmaker, to do everything we can to ensure our kids are safe,’ she said on X. 

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek called on locals to ‘come together and support each other, neighbor to neighbor, Oregonian to Oregonian.’ 

‘No community should have to live through this day,’ Kotek wrote on X.

At least two people were transported to a local hospital in the aftermath, though their status is unclear. It is unclear who shot the suspect.  

Officers have since asked the public to avoid the area as the school remains under lockdown.  

‘This is the kind of thing we never want to see happen in Bend,’ police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.

‘Our hearts go out to this community, and we ask our community to really work together and come together at this time,’ Miller said.

Agents from the FBI’s Portland bureau have arrived at the scene to assist local authorities in the investigation, Kash Patel said.

‘We will make every resource they need available,’ Patel said on X.