Three children, aged 5, 8 and 11, and one teacher were killed when a 16-year-old Bend, Oregon, resident entered an elementary school and started shooting, police said at a news conference Thursday evening.
The shooter, armed with a long gun, forced his way into the school by shooting at locked doors, but it’s unclear how far he made it into the building, said Chief Mike Krantz of Bend Police Department.
A community member who saw the teenager entering Silver Rail Elementary School at about 1 p.m. followed him in before engaging him in gunfire, killing him before responding officers arrived, Krantz said.
As I alluded to in the first paragraph, a motivated gunman will do whatever is necessary to gun down others, until they're met with professional violence. And it would certainly appear the Bend, OR school shooter was bound and determined to kill others.
The gun-toting young madman then tried to enter through the school’s front door but was blocked by two bystanders, including a dad of two little girls at the school who noticed the property breach while driving by on his way home for lunch, sources said.
The man opened fire on John with a concealed weapon he was carrying, thwarting the teen’s attempt to go in the front, sources said.
Refusing to give up, John ran around to the school’s back door and blew off its lock — which was designed to prevent such tragedies, sources said.
He entered the school and headed straight for his former special-needs classroom and opened fire, killing three students, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher, while also injuring a 7-year-old in a wheelchair and a 54-year-old teacher before being gunned down by the gun-toting dad who had spotted him out front.
The usual suspects like gun-grabbing orgs and prog politicians have engaged in their usual grandstanding on how if just one more "gun control" bill were passed, this tragedy could have been averted. Sure, they gloss over the fact that spree killers ignore such laws, but they press on with the assumption that the general public is ignorant of such things.
Perhaps the biggest tell is the lack of balls-to-the-wall coverage by media outlets. Y'see, demagoguing a white guy shooting up a school is among their favorite pastimes. However, in this specific instance they know they can't exploit the tragedy without acknowledging one incontrovertible fact: there would have been many more fatalities had a law-abiding, conscientious gun owner not stepped in to stem the tide of violence. And since media outlets are some of the biggest deniers of the "good guy with a gun" mantra, giving an honest assessment of this incident would be the proverbial exploding cigar in their collective faces.
In the end, I'm beyond weary of having to defend myself and other law abiding gun owners from those who choose to exercise fascist control over our Constitutional rights. But that frustration pales in comparison to the utter heartbreak and devastation the loved ones of those killed are no doubt feeling in the aftermath of evil once again rearing its ugly head. And regardless of your position on guns, the love and support of survivors is where our immediate focus should be guided.
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