BEND, Ore. — A peaceful Thursday afternoon in Central Oregon shattered into unimaginable horror when a 16-year-old gunman opened fire at an elementary school, killing three young children and a dedicated teacher before a community member intervened and shot the assailant dead, local police said.

The massacre at Silver Rail Elementary School—located approximately 120 miles southeast of Portland—left an entire community grappling with profound grief, officials and grieving residents confronting yet another devastating chapter in America’s ongoing crisis of school gun violence.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz detailed the grim toll during a somber press conference, confirming that the children killed were ages 5, 8, and 11. Two other victims—a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher—were rushed to St. Charles Bend hospital, where they were listed in critical condition.

According to police, the suspect was a male resident of the city whose identity has not yet been publicly released. Investigators have not yet established a motive for the shooting, and police stated they do not yet know whether the teenager had any prior connection to the school or whether he knew any of the victims inside the building.

An unidentified law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told the Associated Press that the weapon used in the attack was a pump-action shotgun, which had been purchased by the suspect’s mother.

What happened?

The sequence of terror began shortly before the lunch hour ended. Krantz stated that at 12:59 p.m., police received a 911 call from an individual in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by someone wielding a "long gun."

Moments later, a flurry of additional emergency calls flooded dispatch centers, reporting that an armed individual had breached Silver Rail Elementary School, an educational facility that serves more than 400 students ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Chief Krantz said police dispatchers ordered the school into an immediate lockdown at 1:01 p.m. First-responding officers arrived on the scene just one minute later. Upon entering the building, police confirmed that the suspect was dead and discovered the four victims who had succumbed to their injuries. Authorities confirmed that the families of the deceased have been notified.

The suspect’s rampage was brought to an end by a swift intervention from outside the school system. Krantz stated that the gunman was spotted entering the property by a community member, who pursued the teenager into the building and fatally shot him. The chief noted that the suspect had forced his way into the school by firing shots directly through locked exterior doors.

Federal law enforcement agencies quickly mobilized to support local authorities. FBI Director Kash Patel announced on social media that the agency’s Portland field office was actively assisting in the ongoing investigation. "We will make every resource they need available," Patel wrote.

As news of the tragedy spread across the state and the nation, shocked community members gathered Thursday evening in downtown Bend’s Drake Park for a candlelight vigil, mourning the lives lost and offering mutual comfort in the shadow of an unprecedented local calamity.

Local and state leaders expressed deep anguish over the bloodshed, while also praising the quick thinking of those who sought to stop the violence.

"A school should be a safe place where children can learn and feel secure," Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said during the joint press conference with police. "What happened today should never happen."

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek spoke with visible emotion, stating that her heart was "absolutely broken" over the incident. "No parent should have to have this kind of day, and no community should have to live through this kind of day," Kotek said, while also expressing gratitude to the community member who intervened and pursued the shooter.

Data compiled by CNN from tracking projects maintained by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week, and Everytown for Gun Safety indicates that the tragedy at Silver Rail Elementary is the 36th shooting on a K-12 school campus this year alone, and the 52nd overall school shooting nationwide in the same timeframe.

How are politicians reacting?

The shooting immediately reignited fierce national and state-level debates over gun control and school safety measures, drawing swift reactions from political figures across the ideological spectrum.

Oregon’s Republican candidate for governor, state Senator Christine Drazan, shared her grief on social media, writing that her thoughts were with the affected families, students, and teaching staff. "We have to commit to protecting our kids," Drazan wrote. "We have to put a complete stop to shootings at our schools. This has to end."

Representative Janelle Bynum, a Democrat representing the congressional district that encompasses Bend, released an impassioned statement highlighting the lost innocence of the victims. "Our babies are supposed to do arts and crafts at school, not use their desks as cover from gunfire," Bynum said. "They’re supposed to make friends, not mourn them."

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, lamented in an official statement that the victims at Silver Rail Elementary and their loved ones had been forced to bear the "awful consequences" of America’s persistent failure to curb gun violence. He argued that the "best way to honor" those killed is to "at long last pass common-sense gun laws that reduce the risks of more children, parents, teachers and staff forced to live in fear of similar nightmares for their schools."