The Oregon teen who burst into an elementary school, killing three students and a teacher, used his mom’s shotgun to fire at a pickup truck before his deadly rampage, according to a report.
The unidentified 16-year-old shooter, a Bend resident, was heading towards Silver Rail Elementary School just before 1 p.m. Thursday when he was spotted by a man driving a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in the school’s parking lot, the Bend Source reported.
The boy was armed with a long gun, which a law enforcement source speaking on the condition of anonymity later told the Associated Press that the weapon was a pump-action shotgun his mom had bought.
The teen opened fire at the truck after the driver confronted him, shattering the rear window and leaving at least six large bullet holes in the car.
The boy then allegedly threw his weapon over a fence before jumping over onto the school’s property, while the man in the car called emergency dispatchers to report he had been “shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun.”
The shooter then picked his weapon up and fired several shots at the locks – breaking his way into the school, which serves children in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Cops arrived within three minutes of the first 911 call, but three kids, of the ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were fatally shot. Another child, 7, and teacher, 54, were hospitalized in critical condition.
The boy was “shot by a community member who had seen [him] enter the school, pursued him into the school, and engaged him,” Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told reporters at a press conference Thursday.
Authorities didn’t say if the shooter had previously attended the school, if he knew his victims or if the heroic bystander who stopped the teen had a concealed weapons permit.
The shotgun was purchased by the boy’s mom, a law enforcement source briefed on the shooting said.
In Oregon, a person must be 18 to buy rifles and shotguns and 21 to purchase a handgun. Those under 18 can possess non-handgun weapons if they have parental consent. It’s unclear if the shooter had consent to use his mom’s weapon.
Bend La Pines school district previously banned all people, including those with concealed handling licences, from carrying firearms on district property, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported in 2022.
A separate provision of state law does allow lawfully possessed guns on school grounds if they are unloaded and locked in a vehicle, the outlet reported.
Krantz has warned the investigation into the shooting will be “long” and there has been an outpouring of grief among officials.
Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Oregon) lamented, “our kids are getting shredded.”
“The most heartbreaking thing, as the details have surfaced, is that we have a child involved in the killing of other children,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Thursday. “Multiple families are being impacted. This continues to happen.”
Meanwhile, former Bend Mayor Jeff Eager said, “You can’t imagine that it happens here.”
“Bend is a place that people move to from bigger cities,” he told CNN.
“They move here because it’s relatively safe here, they move here because we have schools you can walk your kids to.”
Tina Kotek, the Oregon governor, thanked the community member who “”heroically intervened to stop further loss of life” but said no one “should have to live through this kind of day.”
“And as we learn more about the children and the adults who have been killed or injured, and their families and their loved ones, we are going to do a lot of crying, and we are going to cry together, and we’re probably going to cry privately,” she said.
With Post wires
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