"Hero Dad" Stopped Oregon School Shooter — Emergency Dispatch Audio Reveals
BEND, Ore. — The unidentified bystander who rushed into an Oregon elementary school and ended a 16-year-old gunman's deadly rampage is believed to be a student's father, according to emergency radio dispatch audio that has emerged a day after the tragedy.
Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, became the scene of one of the deadliest school shootings in state history just after 1 p.m. Thursday, when the 16-year-old stormed the building with his mother's pump-action shotgun. Three students — ages 5, 8, and 11 — and a teacher were killed. A 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher remain in critical condition.
As responding officers raced to the campus, emergency dispatchers relayed a stunning update over the radio: "Looks like the shooter has been neutralized — possibly shot by a father at the school," the dispatch audio, shared on Broadcastify, said.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz confirmed at a Thursday night news conference that the rampage was ended not by police, but by "a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him." Officers entered the building only afterward and confirmed the shooter was dead. Authorities have not officially identified the hero or said whether he had a concealed carry permit, and police would only describe him as a "community member."
The praise was immediate. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek told the news conference: "To the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you." Fifth-grade teacher Kathy Sheil Smith, who saw the shooter inside the building, told KPTV: "That person saw something. They did something, and that took its own courage. I'm just grateful that that person was able to apprehend the suspect."
According to dispatch details, the teenager first fired on a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in the parking lot — shattering its rear window — before shooting out the school's door locks and forcing his way inside. The investigation remains in its earliest stages; Chief Krantz warned it will be a "long" one.
A candlelight vigil in Drake Park drew hundreds Thursday night as the community mourned. Crisis counselors have been deployed across the district, and a large police presence will remain at the school in the coming days.
Sources
Comments
Post a Comment