A school spree killing in Oregon was stopped in mid massacre.
By a good citizen with a gun.
You know — the thing the bright lights of the gun grab movement reliably inform us never happens.
Three children and a teacher were killed, and two others were critically wounded, in a shooting Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, authorities said...The children killed were ages 5, 8 and 11, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a news conference Thursday night. Two others, a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher, were taken to St. Charles Medical Center with critical injuries. No names were immediately released.
Krantz said officers were called to the school just before 1 p.m. on a 911 call from a person who said they had been shot at several times while in their vehicle by a suspect with a long gun. Emergency dispatchers then received dozens of 911 calls that the suspect had entered the school.
The usual gun grabber suspects — including Sen. Ron Wyden, who supported deep blue Oregon's new
My heart is with the victims of today’s shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School and their loved ones now facing the consequences of another school shooting in America. Once again we must ask how many schools must be shot up before Republicans agree to act to curb gun violence.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) October 15, 2026
"My heart is with the victims - now, let's trash the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens" should get mocked and taunted from the public square the way the Left tries to with "thoughts and prayers".
Speaking of thoughts and prayers — I thought some prayers must have gotten answered during the shooting. Someone was there able to come to the rescue.
A bystander who pursued, shot and killed an elementary school shooter Thursday in Bend, Oregon, is being praised for their heroic actions.
The community member saw an armed teenager enter Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 15. They then chased the shooter into the school and killed him, authorities said.
When police arrived at the school minutes after the shooting, which was reported just before 1 p.m. PT Thursday, they found the shooter already dead inside, said Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz. The suspect was a 16-year-old Bend resident, he said.
As this is being written, neither the good Samaritan, nor the suspect has been identified.
Now, as blue as Oregon is, it has one thing up on most blue states; most of the state's school districts are not "gun free zones". Over 80 percent of the state's school districts allow staff members to carry their legal, concealed firearms when at work:
Oregon § 166.370(1), (3)(g). Allow anyone to carry on school grounds if they have a concealed carry license. In 2021, Oregon allowed school districts to ban staff from carrying at school. As of 2022, about 25 districts (such as Klamath Falls, Myrtle Point, Tillamook, Pendleton, Tigard-Tualatin, Lake Oswego, and Woodburn) adopted the ban. Dirk Vanderhart. “Oregon lets schools ban guns on campus, but few districts have made that choice.” OPB. May 31, 2022. There are 197 school districts in Oregon. There are 172 other school districts with a total of 947 schools.
And the Bend district is one of the holdouts:
Gun free zones are deadly. “Only 25 of the 197 school districts in Oregon ban staff from carrying guns, and the attack occurred in one of those 25 school districts.” “The suspect… was shot and killed by a bystander, law enforcement sources said.” https://t.co/T7fbBGvAIG
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) October 16, 2026
Fortunately, the good Samaritan ignored the law.
Kostas Moros — one of the more essential writers in the 2nd Amendment space these days — summarizes story as we understand it so far:
https://t.co/KHBOpoUV3e
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) October 16, 2026
Another thing we learned yesterday: Oregon's slate of gun control laws completely failed to stop this school shooting. What did stop it was an armed bystander who had to ignore a gun law supported by major gun control groups in order to save lives...As of this writing, we don't know yet who the armed bystander is. We only know, based on the current reporting, that he "saw an armed teenager enter Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday afternoon" and then "chased the shooter into the school and killed him..."
We also know that he apparently broke the law to do so. To be sure, especially in light of the Governor's praise , he will almost certainly not be charged. Even if he were, he would likely have a strong "choice of evils" defense under ORS 161.200.
But that does not change the fact that he had to break the letter of the law to save lives, and it creates a concerning thought: while this Samaritan acted heroically, what if he had hesitated out of fear of criminal prosecution?
As John Lott has pointed out, in the 1,000 odd school districts that do allow staff to carry and are not "gun free zones", there has not been a shooting on school grounds during school hours in well over two decades. And we know that the Annunciation school shooter in Minneapolis last year specifically chose the Catholic school because it was a "gun free zone where nobody could resist him.
"I'm scared of good guys with guns. I think a school is my best chance at not being shot at."
Those words, translated from a journal written by Annunciation Catholic Church shooter Robin Westman, provide for the first time specific information as to why the gunman wanted to carry out the horrific act there. In other journal entries, Westman contemplated mass shootings at Minneapolis coffee shops and breweries.
Well, not legally, anyway.
Not all heroes wear capes — or follow stupid laws.
Kudos, Good Samaritan, whoever you are.
