BEND (AGENCIES)

Two heroes - a teacher who wrestled a teen shooter and an alert father who fatally shot the boy - likely prevented more deaths in the elementary school shooting Thursday that took four lives, Bend police have said.

Bend Police Chief Michael Krantz said Friday that a former special needs student at the school, Griffin J. John II, 16, shot his way through security doors with a pump-action shotgun at Silver Rail Elementary School shortly before 1pm on Thursday.

He then entered a special-education classroom and killed three children and a teacher while injuring two others, according to Krantz.

A female teacher tackled him. While the two were grappling, the father of two students at the school, who minutes earlier had seen the teenager shoot at a pickup truck outside the campus after climbing a fence to get in, approached the pair with his own gun and killed the shooter.

Krantz said that the "quick thinking” dad and the teacher "willing to stand for her children” saved lives.

"I don’t think you can underestimate or under appreciate that courage,” he said. "We all recognise that that is true heroism.”

Police identified two of the four victims by name Friday - a teacher Megan Lambert, 25, and a 5-year-old student, Rhoam Summer.

"Today has been the worst day of my life,” said Kelik Summer, his father, in a Facebook post. "We are broken and lost, but are surrounded by friends and family who are keeping us safe.”

Silver Rail was Lambert’s first full-time job as a teacher, though she had been a substitute teacher there for many years before, her family said in a statement read by police Friday.

"This was her dream job,” the statement said. "Meghan 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.”

Becky Drury, a 54-year-old teacher, was injured in the shooting, according to a family friend, Zack Hall. He said Drury suffered serious, but not life-threatening injuries in the shooting.

The shooter had been a special-education student at the school in 2020, when he was 10, according to an interview with his mother, Shauntai Nickerson, in a local news article at the time. She told the news crew her son had struggled learning from home.

One of the people familiar with the investigation said law enforcement officials believe the teen used a shotgun that had been purchased by his mother when he attacked the school.

The suspect shot through glass panes in a double-door entrance on the south side of the school and managed to get inside. He turned immediately to the left, entered a special-education classroom and opened fire on the people inside.

Bend, located in central Oregon, is an outdoor recreation hub about 160 miles from Portland.