A quiet Thursday afternoon in Bend, Oregon turned into a nightmare when a shooter walked into Silver Rail Elementary School. Five people were killed, including three children ages 5, 8, and 11, along with a teacher and the shooter. Police responded just before 1 p.m. after first getting calls about a gun fired into a car nearby, then reports of someone inside the school. A person at the school confronted and killed the shooter, who CNN later identified as a 16-year-old boy. Two people remain hospitalized, a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher.
Families were directed to a reunification site at Journey Church, where parents waited hours to be told their children were safe, or to hear the news no parent is ever ready for. Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said the district is stunned and heartbroken, and Senator Ron Wyden echoed that no words can express the grief this community is carrying.
Stories like this land differently when they hit close to home, and here on the Suncoast, plenty of us are thinking about our own kids, grandkids, and neighborhood schools this morning. We’re opening the phone lines all day because this is a conversation worth having out loud. What’s your reaction to this news, and how are you talking about it with your family?
