Governor praises local who 'heroically' helped end the mass shooting at an Oregon elementary school

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Officials are lauding the actions of a local who they say chased down and shot a teenage gunman who killed three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school.

At a news conference hours after Thursday's attack at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Gov. Tina Kotek praised the person's response as police arrived at the scene, saying they helped end the rampage and likely saved lives.

“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 as well,” said Kotek.

Like police, the Democratic governor didn't provide any details about the person who intervened, including whether they have a link to the school and whether it was a shot they fired that killed the attacker.

Memorials with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals popped up around the school, which sits in a densely packed neighborhood filled with newly built homes.

Brooke Olsen, whose daughter is a kindergartener at Silver Rail, said she was amazed that a member of the public pursued the shooter.

“I think it’s miraculous that someone was there before law enforcement even arrived to stop further tragedy from happening," Olsen said Friday, weeping at times. "I’m feeling very grateful.”

The 16-year-old suspect, identified only as a Bend resident, was found dead inside the school minutes after the first calls for help, Police Chief Mike Krantz said. Police said he got into the school by shooting through locked doors.

The children who were killed were ages 5, 8 and 11, Krantz said. Authorities didn’t give details about the teacher who was killed. Another 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were wounded in the attack and were taken to a hospital in critical condition, he said.

The attacker used a pump-action shotgun that was purchased by his mother, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the shooting. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Under Oregon law, a minor may possess a shotgun if provided by a parent or by someone else with the parent’s consent.

Police said they didn't know if the shooter knew anyone at the school or if he had attended it.

The first 911 call came early in the afternoon from someone outside the school who reported being shot at by someone with a long gun, the police chief said. More 911 calls came from inside the school, and officers arrived within minutes, police spokesperson Sheila Miller said.

The attacker was shot and went down inside the school shortly after officers arrived, she said.

The school has students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with about 450 enrolled last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education.

Children were taken by bus to a nearby church serving as a reunification center for families. Parents hugged, kissed and held their kids’ hands as they walked to their cars, with some bringing along favorite stuffed animals or other comfort items from home.

Shaken residents held a vigil Thursday night, where children drew hearts in chalk on the sidewalk and held candles side-by-side with adults.

Classes and all other activities were canceled Friday for the area’s 32 schools.

Bend, which has about 100,000 residents, is the biggest city in central Oregon. Ringed by mountains, it has ballooned in population over the past three decades and is a tourism and outdoor recreation hub, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Portland.

The shooting was the 28th mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

Just four years ago in Bend, a grocery store employee who had served in the U.S. Army attacked a gunman who was spraying shots inside the supermarket. Both the employee, whom police hailed as a hero, and a customer were killed, and the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Durkin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Gene Johnson in Seattle, Ed White in Detroit and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

People leave a family meeting area following a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Bend, Ore. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)

Dara Crawford cries during a candlelight vigil at Drake Park following a deadly shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore. on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (Eli Imadali/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

A person places flowers at a makeshift memorial on the other side of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Flowers are placed beside a sign at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

A person places flowers at a makeshift memorial on the other side of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Stocks on Wall Street are mostly slipping Friday as another pullback in big technology companies weighs on the market.

The S&P 500 was down 0.5% as of 12:23 p.m. Eastern time and on track for a weekly loss. The benchmark index is just below the all-time high it set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average wavered between small gains and losses of less than 0.1%.

The Nasdaq composite was down 1.3% and headed for its first weekly loss in five weeks. Weakness for AI stocks has been a major drag on the tech-heavy index this week.

Technology companies were the biggest drag on the broader market. Micron Technology fell 3.8%, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 3.7%, Broadcom was down 3% and Intel lost 4.4%. The declines in heavyweight tech stocks outweighed losses in most other parts of the market, and the majority of U.S. stocks were rising.

It’s been a choppy week for chipmakers and other big tech stocks central to the artificial intelligence industry. Investors are now worried that the companies, which have relied on debt markets to finance an investment spree into their technology, may not be able to keep borrowing and spending as heavily with yields in bond markets worldwide recently climbing to their highest levels in years.

Netflix’s stock fell 2.4% a day after the company announced that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria will be replaced by Peter Rice. The news comes just days after Netflix said that it plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1,000 positions.

Gains by big banks and other financial companies helped limit the market slide. JPMorgan rose 1.6%, Citigroup gained 1.8% and Wells Fargo was up 1.4%.

European markets were broadly higher and Asian markets rose.

In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 5.12% from 5.10% late Thursday. It had topped 5.30% earlier this month and touched its highest level since 2002 because of worries about high inflation, signals of a strong U.S. economy and other factors.

Yields are down despite reports this week showing that inflation at the consumer and wholesale level rose more in the U.S. than economists expected.

The reports could persuade the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve to hike their key interest rate before the end of this year. The central bank increased its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9% in September, its first increase in three years.

Wall Street traders expect the Fed will keep its short-term rate unchanged at policy meeting this month, but the odds of a rate increase at the December meeting have jumped to 75.9% from 50.2% a month ago, according to data from the CME Group.

On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh offered no fresh signals about potential interest rate policy moves by the Fed while attending a meeting of financial leaders in Bangkok.

Elsewhere in the market, shares in Tesla fell 1.1% after the electric vehicle company unveiled a new model of its Roadster sports car that can thrust itself up in the air.

Alcoa jumped 6.5% after reporting quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates.

Expectations are high for growth in profits from all kinds of companies this reporting season, which began in earnest this week. That’s what’s allowed U.S. stocks to set records despite high inflation and the many other worries weighing on Wall Street.

In energy markets, oil prices remained elevated as the global oil supply continues to be under pressure without a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the Iran war.

Brent crude, the international standard, was up 1.4% at $107.35 per barrel. That is still high compared with around $72 a barrel in late February before the start of the war. Brent climbed into triple digits last month, the first time since July.

The national average for gasoline is at $4.33 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. While that’s lower than the $4.37 a gallon that it averaged last month, it’s sharply higher than the $3.06 a gallon from a year ago.

Oil remains well-supported as uncertainties surrounding the situation in the Middle East and concerns over oil flows in the Strait of Hormuz had the market “pricing in a significant risk premium,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary Friday.

Specialist Dilip Patel works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A man uses his mobile phone to take photos of the electronic screen displaying Indonesia Composite Index at the Indonesia Stock Exchange in Jakarta, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

People walk past an electronic screen displaying stock prices at the Indonesia Stock Exchange in Jakarta, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

A screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co. stock prices at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)