Some readers may find this article distressing.
An Oregon teacher threw her mobile phone before she tackled and attempted to disarm a teenager who opened fire on a special educational needs class.
As she tried to wrestle a shotgun off him on the floor of the classroom – where three children and a teacher were killed – a bystander armed with a pistol ran inside and killed the teen.
The bystander, a father of two girls at the school, had been driving past Silver Rail Elementary in Bend at lunchtime on Thursday when he saw the suspect firing in the school’s car park and then shooting through a window to enter.
Police said the 16-year-old suspected attacker used to be a student at the school.
Police say he had been armed with about 44 more rounds of shotgun ammunition when he was stopped. He fired as many as 15 rounds in the class.
“To the people who showed courage in the face of such violence and intervened to prevent this tragedy from being any worse, we owe you a debt of gratitude,” Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said.
Police offered more information on the attack at a news conference on Friday, where they identified two of the four victims. They include five-year-old Rhoam Summer and 25-year-old teacher Meghan Lambert.
Lambert’s family said in a statement shared by the police that her goal was to be a teacher in the district in which she grew up and that she was “compassionate and had a huge heart”.
“She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs,” they said.
Bryan Jolly, Summer’s grandfather, said the family was devastated by his death.
“The whole thing is senseless, and a shock,” he told the New York Times, saying his grandson was “was very bright and very mischievous and very fun-loving, and totally without fear”.
The families of the two other students who were killed, an eight-year-old and 11-year-old, did not wish to have them publicly identified yet, police said.
Two others were injured in the attack. Another teacher, a 54-year-old, was still being treated at hospital, and a seven-year-old student, who was in serious but stable condition.
