Oregon school shooting: Parent shot and killed suspect

Hello everyone. I want to thank you all for joining us here today and thanks especially to our many elected officials that we have here with us. My name is Sheila Miller. I am the communications manager for the Bend Police Department. I want to thank the public and the media who have been patient as our law enforcement personnel conduct complete and thorough investigation. We know that you have a lot of questions and we will do our best to share what we can without putting our investigation into jeopardy. I want to give you a quick rundown of the order of events today. First, we will hear from Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, who will provide a recap of yesterday's information, and then we'll share new information that we can offer today. You will then hear from Bend La Pine Schools Superintendent Steve Cook, and then from Holly Harris, the Deschutes County Health Services Director. At the end of their remarks, we will provide a statement from one of the victim's families, and then we will have the opportunity for questions. Please hold your questions until that time. We also want to share that the FBI has created a tip line. You can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or you can go to www.fbi.gov/silver rail school. I will now turn it over to Chief Mike Krantz. Thank you. I'm Mike Krantz, the Chief of Police in the City of Bend. Thank you for being here this afternoon. First, I want to start today by acknowledging and grieving with the students families school staff and neighbors who've been affected by the incident at silver rail elementary school yesterday my heart goes out to each and every one of you and i know our community supports you yesterday was a terrible day for our community and i appreciate the thousands of people who showed up at last night's vigil at drake park because you care about each other and that mattered some of you brought food some of you brought questions and And some of you just came to be close to other people sharing your same grief. Deputy Chief Kansky and I attended this event, and I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and love being shown neighbor to neighbor. That is what our community looks like. To our first responders who showed up in the hardest hours, we saw all that you did, and we are grateful. You ran towards the worst thing any first responder can ever confront in our work with courage and compassion. Thank you. 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. And to the school district personnel who followed protocol with lockdown, evacuation, and reunification to keep your students and staff as safe as possible, thank you for your help. I know many of you are asking hard questions, and some of you are angry, scared, and simply exhausted. Those are all valid feelings. The Bend Police Department, with all of our partners, are diligently working to answer all the questions and conduct a very thorough investigation. Today, I am going to share specifics to this investigation that are hard. They're hard to hear, and they're hard to accept. Our goal is to share vetted information that we can stand behind and be sure of, and not to speculate. This is still an active and open investigation, and my goal is to be as open with information that I can, while not jeopardizing any piece of this case. To write a recap of yesterday's information that I released last night, at 12:59 p.m. on Thursday, October 15th, Deschutes County Dispatch received a 911 call from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun. Dispatch received dozens of 911 calls reporting that a shooter had entered the building at Silver Rail Elementary School on Southeast Stone Creek Lane in Bend. Dispatch used a tone to alert all law enforcement at 1 p.m., one minute later. Officers responding to the scene directed the school to go into lockdown at 1.01 p.m. Our first officers arrived on scene at 1.02, and moments later, an officer reported the suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him, shooting him several times. Five people succumbed to their injuries at the scene, including the suspect. The deceased at the school scene included three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and one 25-year-old teacher. One 7-year-old child and one 54-year-old teacher were transported by Bend Fire to St. Charles Bend with critical injuries. All students and staff at the scene were transported by Bend-LaPine Schools buses to Journey Church for reunification with families and guardians. The new information I want to share today, a little bit of a recap as well. At approximately 12:58 p.m. on Thursday, October 15th, two vehicles were traveling westbound on Brentwood Avenue near Silver Rail Elementary School, near the square box number one. At that time, the suspect approached the fence area of the school from an undeveloped area near Nina Avenue. The suspect crossed the street, threw his weapon over the fence, and climbed the fence onto the school property. The driver of a red Toyota pickup truck witnessed this and verbally confronted the suspect. The suspect fired at the pickup, striking it at least three times. After the red pickup was fired upon, the driver continued down the street and made the initial 911 call. The driver of a second vehicle, a 36-year-old man whose children do attend the school, also witnessed this initial shooting incident. He drove into the elementary school parking lot where square number two is. The suspect walked westbound along the south side of the school and forced entry through an external set of double doors near number three. He fired multiple rounds into the glass panes in the doors to gain access to the school. The suspect went directly into the classroom immediately to the left of the entry doors where he fired as many as 15 rounds overall, although the exact number fired in the classroom is still under investigation. All of the victims were shot in that classroom. Three types of ammunition were used by the suspect over the course of this incident, all 12-gauge birdshot, buckshot, and slugs. The 36-year-old man who parked at the school took out a .40 caliber pistol that was legally secured in his vehicle and carried it towards the school. As he made entry through the forced open doors, he heard shooting and saw a teacher involved in a physical altercation with the suspect. He then went to the classroom where the struggle was underway and fired his weapon, striking the suspect multiple times. In the classroom, an injured 7-year-old girl who was receiving life-saving care at the scene is currently receiving treatment at OHSU. She is in serious but stable condition. The injured 54-year-old female teacher suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and is currently receiving treatment in St. Charles Bend. Officers and medics on scene attempted life-saving care on one boy at the scene. Two other children, both boys, and a teacher were deceased when officers arrived. The 5-year-old boy is identified at the request of his family as Rome Summer. At the request of the other involved families, we will not be releasing the identity of the child victims. The teacher who was killed and has been identified is 25-year-old Megan Lambert of Bend, and we will share her family's statement at the close of this press conference. Arriving officers on scene located a Maverick 88 pump-action 12-gauge shotgun near the suspect, as well as a backpack. In total, the suspect had approximately 44 remaining rounds of 12-gauge ammunition on his person or in his backpack. In addition to the 36-year-old man who bravely stepped in to stop the suspect, I want to highlight another person whose heroic action we need to recognize. A teacher in the classroom threw her cell phone at the suspect and then tackled him and fought to take the firearm from him. She was not injured in that incident, but she almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed. Part of this investigation, we activated the major incident team. Roughly 150 law enforcement and first responder personnel have been involved in this investigation, and we are thankful for their assistance. There are too many to name, but I'd like to give a special thank you to Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, Redmond Police Department, Oregon State Police, the FBI, the ATF, and multiple other partners from far and wide from around the state and our federal partners who have come to support us through this very difficult situation. Our crime scene analysts completed a digital scan of the entire scene last night. We have collected evidence and executed a search warrant at the home of the suspect, and interviews are ongoing. Officers on scene this morning completed a second walkthrough of the scene to determine if there's additional evidence. Our team does not intend to relinquish the school crime scene until Tuesday of next week at the earliest to ensure our search for evidence is complete. The FBI's victim assistance advocates will work with the school district to assist people who want to collect their belongings from the unaffected areas of the building. We will identify the suspect in this case one time. I will not say his name again. The suspect has been identified as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II. He previously attended Silver Rail Elementary, and we believe he traveled to the school on foot, although that route remains under current investigation. He is not currently enrolled at Ben Lapine Schools. How the suspect got the weapon and ammunition remains part of the active criminal investigation, and I will not be able to address any of that portion today. this remains a very active investigation and while we know that you have many questions not all of them will be answered today and some of them may never be answered please hold the victims of this tragedy, the family and your community in your hearts with me support them support each other and use the resources that will be mentioned today if you need them thank you thank you chief france next we will hear from superintendent steve cook today i'm coming to you after meeting with the Silver Rail Elementary staff. They're in so much pain, as we all are. They were gathered to support each other, to share and to comfort each other. I assure you this tragedy has had a substantial impact to them and all of our school employees. They're grieving the loss of a colleague and three of our students. Like our families, our staff need time and privacy and so much support right now. I soon hope to be speaking with the families of the victims as well. As Chief mentioned, Victim's Assistance is engaging with the families currently. I want our families to hear directly from me that we stand with them and we support them. To all of our Silver Rail families, we are deeply committed to supporting you through every stage of this crisis. This has been a terrifying and traumatic experience that will affect us all profoundly for years to come. I want to thank them all for their courage, for their support, and for their care for one another during this time. Silver Rail families are showing our community how to wrap our arms around our children to comfort and love and remind them that the adults in their schools and in their lives deeply care about them. I also need to acknowledge our staff member who fought for the safety of the children who engaged the suspect. I also need to acknowledge the community member who risked life by entering the school, and did not hesitate to step in. Thank you both for intervening on behalf of our students. I believe your actions saved lives. Today, in the days ahead, we are focused primarily on crisis response and support to everyone in our community and to anyone who's seeking help. The initial reports of the crisis counseling that are going on at Central Library has been that hundreds have shown up to receive that support. We will continue to provide access for this community. We are in the process and will begin as soon as law enforcement allows us to, once the investigation is complete, to investigate our own emergency response procedures, all of our safety planning, and everything that is relevant to this event and investigation. Belmont Pine Schools has invested heavily in in school safety, secure entries, door locks, security cameras, security fencing, and we have a wonderful partnership with Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and Bend Police Department. We practice lockdowns with students and staff twice a year at every school. We train with law enforcement and emergency responders every year. Rest assured, we will take a hard look at everything that we have done and what more needs to be done to ensure that our students our staff and our families are safe in our schools thank you thank you superintendent finally i'd like to invite up Holly Harris she is the Deschutes county health services director good afternoon my name is Holly Harris i am the director of Deschutes county health services first i want to acknowledge the profound grief fear and pain our community is experiencing we are mourning the children and educator whose lives were lost and we hold their families, loved ones, classmates, colleagues and everyone affected close in our hearts. Today, I'm here to share the support available to students and families, school staff, first responders and all community members impacted by this tragedy. Our community has responded with extraordinary compassion. We have received offers of assistance from local partners, businesses, individuals, the Oregon Health Authority, elected officials and the governor's office and we are deeply grateful for that care and support. We have set up a link on the Deschutes County web page at Deschutes County dot gov for individuals who are trained to offer mental health supports can sign up and offer their services. We ask that you utilize the form and we will follow up with you. Please do not head directly to the locations where services are being provided. Deschutes County Health Services is providing immediate support today and will continue to be here in the days and weeks ahead. Earlier today, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bend Central Library, we provided support to well over 100 individuals. I think it was close to 200 individuals and families. A second support event will be held this afternoon from 4 to 7 at Larkspur Community Center. Additional support will be available on Saturday from 1 to 6 and Sunday from 1 to 4, also at Larkspur Community Center. We are actively working to set up additional supports for the weeks ahead and will share the locations and times for those events as soon as they become available. These services are free and open to all students, families, school staff, and community members. Trained professionals will be available to provide safe, compassionate space, help people understand common reactions to trauma, and connect individuals with additional support and resources. If you have been affected, please know you do not have to face this alone. Seeking help is a sign of strength, and support is available. For immediate crisis support, the Deschutes County Stabilization Center is open 24-7. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is also available 24 hours a day by call or text. In the days ahead, we will continue to stand with one another, care for one another, and help carry one another through this unimaginable loss. Please make use of these resources and share with anyone you are concerned about or that has been affected. Thank you. Thank you, Holly. I want to highlight Rome Summers' family provided an image of him. We will include this image and the following image in a press release that we will put out after this, probably be out within the hour after this press conference. And I would like to share Megan Lambert's family statement. There's room. To tell you about who Megan was would take 25 years. Megan was a native Central Oregonian. She grew up in Bend. She had a passion for playing sports, especially volleyball. She was a volleyball coach. She actually turned down pay for her first season as a coach so families who couldn't afford to participate could have the chance to play the sport she loved. Her goal was to be an educator and teach in the school district she loved growing up in. She graduated from Mountain View High School in 2019. She graduated from Boise State in May of 2023. She traveled abroad to Barcelona, Spain with TEFL Iberia. Silver Rail was her first job as a teacher, though she subbed there for many years before through High Desert ESD. She loved Silver Rail. This was her dream job. Megan was compassionate and had a huge heart. She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs. She was an incredible sister, daughter, niece, and granddaughter. Her friends became her family. She was funny and opinionated, and she lit up the room. We want the bystander who intervened to know we know he is going through a rough time, but we are grateful, and we think he is a hero. You selflessly put yourself at risk for others. We would like the other families to know they are in our thoughts and prayers. Megan loved those children, and so we will show you love for her. The rest of the families, and in fact all of the families, have asked for privacy. They've provided this and would ask you to keep that private. um to keep private beyond what we've shared today as i mentioned we will have a press release coming out shortly after this press conference we now have some time for some questions i'm going to ask you to raise your hand provide your name and the name of the media agency that you are with i will do my best to get to most of you and i'm going to repeat the question so i'll start with peter thank you uh peter madison's source newspaper is griffin the first or last name griffin is the first name and i noticed that many people got it wrong so i appreciate those of you who waited spencer i'd like to ask more about the standard response procedure specifically how the school uses lockdown and second what technology is in place to assist in response thank you spencer um first i want to go back and say i apologize i said i would repeat the question and then i didn't spencer asked if the first name of the suspect was griffin peter asked that spencer is asking about the standard operating procedure for lockdown at schools i think i'll give that to you steve yeah could you repeat the question uh how the school uses lockdown drills versus active shooter what technology is in place to assist so the we use the i love you guys uh standard response protocol and we practice lockdown drills. Every school practices lockdown drills twice a year. We coordinate those typically with our SROs and so we have law enforcement on site especially when we do the first one. The first one is typically in every school scheduled during the first 30 days of school and in this case Silver Rail had theirs about two weeks ago and four of our SROs were present as far as technology goes the probably the most significant thing is the district replaced every door lock in each of our schools so that the door locks are visible from any place in the classroom to ensure that they are locked and don't require exiting the classroom to lock a door that's probably the best on the technology piece. Matt? Patrick Donaldson, New York Daily News. Can you answer, was the classroom, he entered a special needs classroom, and was the suspect ever a student in that classroom? The question is, was the classroom a special needs classroom, and was the student ever a student in that classroom? I can answer that that classroom was a special needs classroom, and the suspect was a special needs student in that school. Go ahead. Sure. The question is, was the classroom a mixed age classroom? And then the second question was whether there were any warning signs on the suspect's part. I'll let you answer the first and you have the second. I believe the answer to the first question is yes, there were students of different ages in the classroom at the time of the shooting. As far as addressing any mental health questions or warning signs, that is currently part of the active and open investigation that we'll be determining as we can. Is it true that the shooter first tried to get to the high school, but the door was locked? Which high school? Caldera High School. Her question is whether the shooter attempted to access Caldera High School before going to Silver Rail Elementary, and I do have any indication that that is correct go ahead um thank you for doing this briefing um could you share anything that you have learned about the suspect's background and what the motive for such a shooting may have been that's number one um i know his mother spoke to some outlets um you know said she was surprised at what happened but i i assume that you have done some interviews BY THIS POINT BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS WHAT EVERYBODY WANTS TO KNOW WHY. THAT'S NUMBER ONE. AND NUMBER TWO, EVERYONE I'VE SPOKEN TO HAS SAID THAT THE SUPERIORITY OF THE SCHOOL WAS EXCELLENT, AS THE SUPERINTENDENT SAID. AND YET, YOU KNOW, HOW COULD IT BE THAT, YOU KNOW, JUST WITHIN SECONDS, TIME CAN GROWING THROUGH MULTIPLE LOCKS IN THIS VERY, VERY SUPERIOR SCHOOL? AND I'M JUST WONDERING, HOW DO YOU GRAPPLE WITH THAT? Okay. Can you repeat your first? Oh, the first question from the Washington Post was anything about his background that we have learned that we have not shared that we would like to share? Exactly. That speaks to a motive. Sure. Yeah. Your question is relevant in that everyone wants to know why, including us. And I think that's one of the most challenging parts of these types of investigations and cases is determining the why and the motives. And that That is part of the current, very active, as I said, open investigation that we're working on, and it will require substantial investigative time to continue that. But that is the answer we're seeking as well. And as I said before, we may never get that full answer, but we want it. What have you learned about his background? I know you don't know what the whole of this is, but was he from a troubled family where his parents split, divorced? Yeah, and unfortunately, at this point, we're not able to release any of those details as it's still part of that opening case. The second question was about how the door was able to be breached. Yeah, I'm not sure I can really answer any of that with confidence at this point. I think we're going to do a lot of reviewing of our procedures, and we will find that out. Aaron? I was curious about the bystander, what he was doing there as part of the series of events and during that time as well. I think you mentioned you followed him into school. If you could talk a little bit more about that as well as I believe Holly mentioned that he's gone through a rough time. sure the question was why was the bystander there i believe he was passing through um and the second question is um about it was in megan lambert's family statement that she they assume he's having a rough time i can imagine that everyone would assume that that's a really difficult thing and a great thing to do um but i do not have we i believe that he was simply passing by and in the area. Joanie the question was any further detail about the firearm if it was legally purchased and if there were additional firearms located in the home. Thank you. Again, it's a Maverick 88 12 gauge pump action shotgun was the firearm the suspect was using and currently the origin of that possession is what we're working on is how did someone come into possession of it how was it how is it in the home and and at this point we're not able to release additional details for that piece of the investigation go ahead sure the question is about mental health services to children who are at the school now and going into the future yeah the crisis counseling will be available for students as long as necessary we're coordinating that right now as you can imagine we have lots of resources entering our community to support our students we have counselors at our schools and we will continue to build that out over time right now the needs are very acute and so we're coordinating the work of I think federal support and state support and county support to provide those resources to our students yes sir the shooter was in the classroom and oh I'm sorry the question was where the shooter was when he was neutralized the shooter was in the classroom were there other the question is where there are other students in the classroom and who witnessed it? As far as we understand at this point, there were no additional students in the classroom other than the victims. And that shooting had occurred already when the citizen had engaged the suspect. Sir. The question is, is there a plan in place for the children who attend Silver Rail Elementary in the upcoming weeks? That is a work in progress. Yes, sir. The question is if the chief can speak to the heroism that our bystander and our teacher showed. Yeah, you know, I don't think we can underestimate or underappreciate that courage. um when someone is willing to risk their own life for others we we recognize that and the the quick thinking to to observe to then park and follow someone into the school is incredible and undoubtedly saves people and that is something that if it came natural as a protective father that's terrific the the teacher who is willing to stand and fight for her children incredible. And I think we all recognize that that is true heroism. And we don't see that a lot in society and we recognize it when we need to. And our community appreciates it. We have time for a couple more. In the back. The question was the suspect a former student in the classroom at Silver Rail Elementary. We cannot confirm that. Is that correct? Okay. A couple more. I'm going to go behind yep there you go the question is about the teacher who intervened and attempted to disarm the suspect and was that person separate from the teacher injured and the teacher killed and that is correct it is a third person okay i'm going to do two more, Spencer, uh Spencer asked CCTV News, uh two quick questions. One, was there an SRO officer present at Silver Elementary on the uh yesterday. Number two, there's been a lot of speculation over the name of the bystander. Can you confirm who the bystander is? So the first question is, was there an SRO on campus yesterday at Silver Rail Elementary? My understanding is that the SRO was not at Silver Rail. That SRO oversees six or seven schools and so was at a nearby school. Uh, your second question was I see. Um, no, we're not going to confirm the identity of the bystander that person did not give us permission to use their name and my last question will go to Matt Okay, the first question was, was the person in the red vehicle injured? No, no, no. And your second question is beyond the amount of rounds, was there any indication that this person was going to go elsewhere and as you can imagine, part of the investigation is to look at all potential evidence and that takes some time through a variety of search warrants and and seizures of evidence and then reviewing that evidence so at this point we have no indication that I could share that, and we'll certainly be looking for that type of evidence as we continue through the investigation. I want to thank you guys, I know there's a lot more questions. Um, I will stay here if people have questions and they would like to ask me off camera or now that the press conference has ended. Thank you very much. We appreciate you being here.