There was a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, yesterday. A teacher and three schoolchildren were killed during the attack. The shooter, a 16-year-old, was shot and killed by an armed community member, a law-abiding citizen exercising his Second Amendment rights. The shooter gained access to the school by blasting through the locked doors. The community member saw this, reacted, followed the suspect, and then neutralized the threat (via CBS News):
Press conference confirms it. A gunman at an Oregon elementary school was taken down almost immediately by an armed member of the community who saw the gunman enter the school, pursued him, and ended the threat. Cops arrived to clear and secure the scene.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) October 16, 2026
Listen to this report, just harrowing, awful stuff. But make no mistake, without the courage and bravery of an armed Good Samaritan hero who saw the shooter enter the school and pursued him, risking his own life, the terrible death toll would be unimaginably higher. Absolute legend. God bless him. Thank you, whoever you are. I genuinely hope I have the honor of thank you in person some day.
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 16, 2026
Three children and a teacher were killed, and two others critically wounded, in a shooting on Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, authorities said.
The suspect, a 16-year-old male, was shot and killed by a bystander, Bend police said.
Along with the teacher, the three children killed were ages 5, 8 and 11, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said in a news conference Thursday night. Two others, a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher, were taken to St. Charles Medical Center with critical injuries. No names were immediately released.
Krantz said that officers were called to the school just before 1 p.m. on a 911 call from a person who said they had been shot at several times while in their vehicle by a suspect with a long gun. Emergency dispatchers then received dozens of 911 calls that the suspect had entered the school.
The shooter forced his way into the school by "shooting at locked doors," Krantz said.
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Even violent deranged nutcases bent on mass murder usually have a semblance of rational thought in doing irrational things like mass murder. They stop targeting places where they're reasonably likely to take three to the chest and two to the head within 30-60 seconds of opening fire. So let's make that...basically everywhere.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) October 16, 2026
I repeat: Even lunatic nutjobs generally retain a semblance of rationality in planning to carry out irrational acts like mass murder. Make it substantially more likely that any attempt to slaughter kids ends with 3 to the chest and 2 to the head within 30-60 seconds, and they'll stop targeting kids.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) October 16, 2026
Oregon has universal background checks, already bans so-called ghost guns, has safe storage laws, and prohibits gun ownership for those under 16. The gun control crowd needs to shut it — your laws don’t save people. A good guy with a gun did, and if this person hadn’t been there, we likely would’ve seen more dead kids. The Second Amendment isn’t going away.
To this individual, nicely done — you saved lives.
Thank God an armed citizen heroically violated a law you helped pass, on his way to killing a gunman who readily ignored all the other laws you promised would stop him.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) October 16, 2026
A 16-year-old. Just to recap, Oregon already: - generally bans gun possession for people under 18 - has safe storage laws requiring parents to secure guns in such a way as to prevent minors from have unattended access. - imposes universal background checks on gun transfers - bans "ghost guns"
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) October 16, 2026
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