Oregon’s Catholic bishops are urging prayer after a shooting Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, which left five people dead — including three young children — and two critically wounded.
According to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, a 16-year-old forced his way into the elementary school by shooting through locked doors before opening fire inside. The gunman killed three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, alongside a teacher before he was shot and killed at the scene by a bystander who had spotted him entering the building. A 7-year-old student and another teacher were rushed to a local hospital with critical injuries.
A teacher who was in a classroom on campus during the entire ordeal, Kathy Sheil Smith, spoke with CNN affiliate KPTV on Thursday night, saying of the students: “They were so afraid. The looks on their faces was really hard to see.”
Speaking to what occurred on the ground, she saw the shooter enter the school from her classroom window. After alerting the main office, she moved her students to a corner of the classroom to shelter in place. “Some kids were praying; some kids were consoling other kids,” Smith said.
As shots were heard across the school, she said some teachers imagined they wouldn’t make it out alive.
“I’m sure that every teacher at the school thought, ‘Today is the day that I am going to die,’” she said through tears.
The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of pastoral care and community support across the state, with hundreds attending a candelight vigil Thursday night.
“We expect that our schools are safe places for our children and all who pass through their doors. When a tragedy like this occurs, it shakes us to our core,” wrote Bishop Thomas Hennen of the Diocese of Baker — which encompasses the city of Bend — in a letter offering his “heartfelt prayers for those whose lives were taken in the shooting.”
Acknowledging the overwhelming wave of emotions confronting the city, Hennen pointed to faith, solidarity, and action as the path forward.
“It is only natural that we would be flooded with emotions at a time like this — shock, grief, fear, confusion, anger,” Hennen wrote. “Even as more is known about what happened, there are no adequate answers for why this happened. We can only mourn, support each other, and pledge ourselves to doing everything in our power to prevent such tragedies in the future.”
The prelate said the entire “Catholic community of central and eastern Oregon mourns with the families of the victims, the Silver Rail community and the city of Bend.”
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, emergency responders transported surviving students and staff by bus to a nearby church, where families and guardians were reunified with their loved ones.
Speaking at an evening media briefing, Krantz noted that law enforcement notified all victim families and that an active, thorough investigation remains underway.
Local officials and state leaders emphasized the need for communal healing, counseling, and mutual support in the days ahead.
“In the coming days, there will be opportunities to gather, including a community vigil tonight, to mourn together, honor those affected and those lost, and begin the difficult process of healing,” Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said.
At the state level, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek confirmed that the Department of Emergency Management is actively coordinating resources to assist the local community.
“We must come together and support each other, neighbor to neighbor, Oregonian to Oregonian,” Kotek said.
Crisis counselors have also been mobilized across the school district to help students and families.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of the Archdiocese of Portland also issued a statement, offering spiritual closeness to the grieving families and the broader community.
“No family should ever have to experience such fear and heartbreak. Please know that you are not alone,” Sample said. “I hold you close in prayer, and the Church stands with you in this time of sorrow.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
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