4 min read
Major Takeaways
A shooter opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on Thursday afternoon, leaving multiple victims including children.
At least two people were hospitalized. The shooter is dead, though police have not confirmed who fired the fatal shot.
Roughly 450 young students attend the school. Families were sent to a reunification site as officers evacuated classrooms room by room.
What Happened in Bend
Another school day in America ended in gunfire. On Thursday afternoon, a shooter opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, injuring multiple people including children.
The first 911 call came in at 12:59 p.m. local time. A caller reported a shot fired into a car outside the school.
Officers were on scene by 1:02 p.m. Minutes later, the suspected shooter was dead.
Bend police have not said who fired the fatal shot. Communications manager Sheila Miller told reporters it may have been a bystander.
Emergency personnel direct traffic at the scene of the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. (Photo: Reuters/Rob Kerr via CNN)
What We Know About the Victims
At least two people were taken to St. Charles Hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Police confirmed that children are among the victims. As of Thursday evening, the total number of victims had not been confirmed.
The shooting began outside the building. The first 911 caller reported a shot fired into a car near the school.
What happened next is still being pieced together. Investigators have not said how the shooter moved from the parking area into the school.
Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, as police respond to the active shooter report. (Photo: KTVZ via Prineville Review)
The Evacuation
Silver Rail Elementary serves about 450 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. Around 40 staff members work there.
The school went into lockdown as officers moved through the building. Police evacuated students room by room.
The slow, careful evacuation took time. Parents waited at the reunification site, desperate for word.
Families were directed away from the campus. A reunification site was set up at Journey Church on South Highway 97.
Multiple agencies responded. Bend police were joined by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police, and federal personnel.
Bend is a city of about 107,000 people in central Oregon. It sits roughly 165 miles southeast of Portland.
Parents and community members gather outside Silver Rail Elementary School as emergency crews respond. (Photo: Fox News)
Leaders Respond
Oregon leaders responded quickly. Senator Jeff Merkley said his team was monitoring the situation closely.
Representative Janelle Bynum spoke with raw emotion. She said the community feels this deep in its soul.
Bynum said children are supposed to make friends at school, not mourn them. She called it every parent’s worst fear.
A Fear Black Parents Know Too Well
For Black families, that fear carries a familiar weight. We send our babies to school and pray they come home whole.
School shootings do not check zip codes. But the trauma lands hard in every community, and ours is no exception.
Parents across the country watched this story unfold and saw their own children in those classrooms. That is the quiet terror of a day like today.
The investigation is still in its early hours. Police have not released the shooter’s identity.
They have not said how the shooter got onto campus. They have not confirmed a motive.
What is known is that young children were hurt in a place built to keep them safe. That fact alone demands our attention.
Communities of color know what it means to grieve in public and heal in private. Bend is grieving tonight, and we grieve with them.
We also know what it means to demand answers. How did a shooter reach an elementary school. How many warnings were missed. Those questions deserve real responses.
Gun violence in America is a policy failure with a body count. Thoughts and prayers have never stopped a bullet.
What Happens Next
If this news has shaken your household, talk to your children tonight. Ask them how they feel. Listen more than you speak.
Resources exist for families struggling with fear and grief. The Disaster Distress Helpline is available at 1-800-985-5990.
No parent should have to explain to a five year old why their school needed police. Yet here we are again.
This story is developing. Urban City Podcast will update this article as officials release more information.
Sources and Further Reading
Reporting for this article draws on coverage from the Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today, and the New York Post. Read more national news from Urban City Podcast, including our latest update on the Fort Hood execution decision.
