Oregon: A 16-year-old identified as Griffin J. John II had killed three children and a teacher in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, police and school officials stated.
The teenager was previously a special-needs student at the school but was not enrolled in the local public school system at the time of the attack.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz identified the suspect on October 16, a day after the shooting. Krantz stated that the gunman targeted a classroom for students with special needs, where all the victims were shot.
View this post on Instagram
Steven Cook, superintendent of Bend-La Pine Schools, confirmed that the teenager had previously attended the school as a special-needs student.
According to the Chief, the attacker used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot through locked doors and fired as many as 15 rounds. John reportedly had around 44 rounds remaining when he was killed. Police are investigating how he obtained the weapon.
Oregon law allows minors to possess shotguns when they are provided by a parent or with parental consent. A teacher confronted the gunman by throwing her phone at him before tackling and fighting him, an act Krantz described as heroic and likely to have saved lives. The teacher was not injured.
Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old father of two children at the school, also entered the building and shot the gunman dead minutes after the first emergency call. US President Donald Trump praised Giamanco as a hero.
The children killed were aged five, eight and eleven. The teacher was identified as Meghan Lambert, 25. A seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital in critical condition. The shooting was reported as the 28th mass killing in the United States in 2026, according to the latest database.
The Gun Violence Archive has recorded 369 mass shootings in the country this year, defining them as incidents in which four or more people are shot. Everytown for Gun Safety has also documented at least 100 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2026, resulting in 34 deaths.
RELATED POST | US school shooting leaves 3 children and teacher dead
