A shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, left multiple victims injured Thursday afternoon, including children.
At least two people were taken to the hospital, and police say the suspected shooter is dead.
Authorities have not released the victims’ conditions or said how many children were injured. Families are still waiting for answers after a nightmare no parent should ever have to face.
Bend Police first alerted the public to the active-shooter report and warned people to stay away from the school:
The first 911 call came in at about 1 p.m. local time and reported a gunshot fired into a vehicle, according to police information relayed by local reporters.
Within minutes, more callers were reporting an active shooter at the elementary school on Southeast Stone Creek Lane.
Officers rushed to the campus. Moments after they arrived, police said they received word that the suspected shooter had been shot and killed.
FOX 12 Oregon reports that investigators had not yet determined whether a bystander or a police officer fired the shot that killed the suspect.
The station also reported that at least two people were transported to a hospital and that children were among the injured, although police had not said whether the transported patients were children. Officials had not released the patients’ conditions.
Police directed families to a reunification site at Journey Church, 61303 South Highway 97, near Goodwill and Dairy Queen. The public was asked to avoid the area while officers secured the scene and investigators began piecing together exactly what happened.
Scanner traffic raised the extraordinary possibility that an armed father at the school may have stopped the shooter.
Nick Sortor shared that report while stressing that it had not yet been confirmed:
That detail remains unconfirmed.
Police have confirmed only that the suspect was shot and killed. They have not identified the person who fired the fatal shot, and the difference matters in a fast-moving investigation where families deserve facts rather than rumors.
The first confirmed word of injured children turned an already terrifying lockdown into something even worse:
Silver Rail serves elementary-age children. Every minute between the first emergency call and the reunification of a child with a parent is an eternity in a situation like this.
The shooter can no longer hurt anyone. Now the focus is on the wounded children and adults, the families racing for information, and the officers, medical crews, school staff and any brave civilian who moved toward danger to protect innocent lives.
This is a developing story. We will update the facts as Bend Police releases confirmed information.
Continue reading...
[ H/T WLT Report ]