A shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday left three children and a teacher dead, in one of the more devastating school shootings the country has seen this year.
Authorities said a 16-year-old was responsible for the attack. The children who died were five, eight and eleven years old. Another child and a teacher were critically wounded and remained hospitalized. Officials have not yet said what prompted the attack or whether the suspect had any prior connection to the school; investigators previously noted the suspect had attended an elementary school in the area at an earlier point.
Accounts from the scene described a father and a teacher being credited with helping prevent further harm during the attack, actions that officials and community members have said likely kept the toll from being higher. Local and state law enforcement, along with federal investigators, have been working to piece together a full timeline of what happened inside the school.
The shooting has reignited a now-familiar national conversation about school safety, and Bend, a city in central Oregon known for its outdoor recreation and growing population, has become the latest community to grapple with grief and scrutiny in the aftermath of a school attack. Vigils and community gatherings have been held in the days since, and the two youngest victims' families have asked for privacy as the community mourns.
Investigators are expected to release more details about the suspect's background and motive in the coming days, and the conditions of the two critically wounded victims will continue to be closely watched.
Is the motive known?
Investigators have not publicly stated what prompted the attack as of Saturday.
Where is Bend, Oregon?
Bend is a city in central Oregon, known for outdoor recreation, that has grown substantially in population in recent years.