A sign marks the entrance of the Silver Rail Elementary School behind a cordoned-off area, following a shooting, in Bend, Oregon, US, Friday 16 October 2026; Credit: REUTERS/David Ryder

(Reuters) - US police were investigating on Friday 16 October 2026 why a sixteen-year-old boy shot dead three children and a teacher at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, and how he got hold of the long gun used in his attack.

The latest deadly school shooting in the United States unfolded on the afternoon of Thursday 15 October, when the teenager, who has not been publicly identified, shot through a locked door at Silver Rail Elementary School in central Oregon, according to the Bend Police Department.

The teenager killed three children aged three, eight and eleven and one teacher before he himself was shot dead by an armed bystander who had pursued him into the school, Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a Thursday evening press conference. 

Such shootings have become common in the US, with each one reviving debates over gun laws in a country where a right to "keep and bear Arms" is protected under the Constitution's Second Amendment. 

Bystander intervened

The bystander has not been publicly identified by police, although the New York Times reported that he was the father of two young girls who attend the school.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said at the press conference that the bystander "heroically intervened to stop further loss of life."

Beyond those killed, a seven-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital with critical injuries.

It was not clear if the shooter had any prior connection to the school, which has about 450 students from kindergarten through the fifth grade, roughly ages five to eleven, and 40 staff members.

The New York Times and other outlets, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, identified the teenager as John J. Griffin II, and investigators searched his home and seized electronic devices. They believe he used a twelve-gauge pump-action Maverick 88 shotgun in the attack, which police say is registered to his mother, the Times reported.

Officials at the Bend Police Department, who did not respond to questions on Friday, were due to give updates on their investigation at an afternoon press conference. 

Gun law debates

Some of the deadliest school attacks in the US include those at Columbine High School in 1999, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. 

Advocates for gun-owners' rights have argued for arming teachers as a means of defence. The Gun Owners of America advocacy group pointed to the armed bystander's intervention in Bend as evidence for their position.

Residents of the small city of Bend were left grieving after the attack, which unfolded in minutes, with emergency responders receiving a call at 12:59 PDT (21:59 CET) from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by someone with a long gun, police said.

In the minutes afterwards, dozens of calls were received saying the shooter had entered the school. Officers arrived at 13:02 (22:01 CET) and moments later an officer reported the shooter had been killed, police said. Officers entered and confirmed the teenager was dead.