Police credit a teacher and a parent with stopping a 16-year-old attacker at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend.
An Oregon school shooting left a teacher and three pupils dead on Thursday before an armed parent killed the attacker, police said. Two other people suffered serious injuries at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend.
Local authorities identified the gunman as Griffin J. John II, a 16-year-old former pupil at the school. Police Chief Mike Krantz credited a teacher and a parent with intervening before officers arrived.
Oregon school shooting leaves four victims dead
Investigators said the teenager approached the school on foot and threw a shotgun over its perimeter fence. He then forced his way through a locked glass entrance and opened fire in a special education classroom.
Teacher Meghan Lambert, 25, and five-year-old pupil Rhoam Summer died at the scene. Two other children, aged eight and 11, also died in the attack.
Meanwhile, a seven-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher remained in hospital with serious injuries.
Teacher and parent confronted attacker
Inside the classroom, an unnamed teacher threw a mobile phone at the gunman, police said. She then wrestled with him for control of the 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.
Police credited her actions with saving lives. Krantz also highlighted the intervention of Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old father of two pupils at the school.
Giamanco saw the armed intruder outside and retrieved a legally secured .40-calibre handgun from his parked vehicle. He then followed the teenager into the school and fired several rounds, killing him in the classroom.
According to Krantz, the attacker still had 44 unspent rounds of ammunition when the confrontation ended. Both interventions took place before police reached the school.
Investigators examine weapon access and motive
Authorities confirmed that the campus had no armed school resource officer present during the attack. However, School District Superintendent Steven Cook said the building had recently undergone security lock upgrades.
Cook also said the school had held a lockdown drill two weeks earlier.
Police searched the suspect’s home under a warrant as they investigated the attack. Investigators said his mother had legally purchased the shotgun, but they had not established a clear motive.
Krantz said investigators wanted to understand why the teenager attacked the school. However, he cautioned that they might never establish a complete explanation.
In an interview after the shooting, the gunman’s mother said she had noticed no warning signs. She also said she knew nothing of her son’s plans and apologised to the victims’ families.
However, she declined to answer questions about the shotgun and did not explain how he accessed it.
