Mom of 5th-grade student recalls terrifying moment son told her about deadly shooting at Oregon elementary school

Oct. 16, 2026, 9:29 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 16, 2026, 9:43 AM EDT

“The kids were bussed from the school to the church and were released to parents from youngest to oldest,” Johnston said. “My son, being in 5th grade, was the very last class to be released.”

The shooting happened around 1 p.m. PT after a suspected teenage gunman armed with a long gun gained entry into the school by firing through the locked doors.

A teacher and three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, were killed. Two other people, a 7-year-old and another teacher, were critically injured.

The names of those killed and injured have not been released.

The suspect was said to be a 16-year-old Bend resident. He was shot and killed by a good Samaritan who pursued him, authorities said.

Justin Penfield said he and his wife were together when they received a notification from the school. A friend who was already at the school told them to get to the building quickly, he said.

Penfield recalled seeing a “massive police presence” and finding his son’s kindergarten class already outside. Penfield said as he walked his son back to their car, he saw a man standing next to a pickup truck with “seven or eight gunshot holes in his truck.”

According to Penfield, the man told him he was driving back from lunch when the man saw someone throw what appeared to be a shotgun over the fence and then jump the fence into the school’s playground.

The man said he yelled to ask the guy what he was doing because he thought it was odd, Penfield said, recounting his conversation with the man.

According to Penfield, the man told him the gunman turned and opened fire on his truck. Penfield said the man told him he sped away and called 911.

Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said at a vigil Thursday evening that the shooting was a dark day for the city and “there are simply no words for the loss that we have suffered.”