BEND, Ore. (AP) — The youngest child killed in a shooting at an Oregon school was a fast runner and a fearless climber who also loved reading and his stuffed animals, his aunt said Friday.
Rhoam Summer, 5, was one of three children killed along with a teacher in the shooting Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, a mountain-ringed city of about 100,000 in central Oregon. The other two children killed were ages 8 and 11, and a fourth student and another teacher were wounded, police have said.
“He never met a stuffie that he didn’t think needed to be rescued and cared for,” said Swan Sheridan, whose sister is Summer's mother.
Sheridan said Summer liked for all of his sea creature stuffed animals to be in his favorite color: rainbow.
“He had a great fondness for sharks and dinosaurs and creatures that were in his words, 'misunderstood,’” she said.
Sheridan said her nephew would climb and jump off anything and was an “incredibly fast” runner, even from a young age. “He was a little ball of energy from the moment he was born,” she said.
“He was a very, very happy child,” she said.
Teacher Meghan Lambert, 25, was killed, said police Chief Mike Krantz at a Friday afternoon news conference. Police confirmed Summer was one of those killed but won't release names of the other children who died at the request of families.
Lambert had her “dream job," her family said in statement read at the news conference. Lambert grew up in Bend, graduated from Boise State in 2023, had a passion for sports, especially volleyball, and was a local coach, relatives said.
They described her as funny and opinionated and said she “lit up the room.”
“Meghan was compassionate and had a huge heart," her family said in the statement. "She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs.”
Police said 16-year-old Griffin J. John II got into the school by shooting through locked doors. Authorities said John had been a special needs student at the school and attacked a classroom with special needs students.
Krantz said a parent saw John shooting outside the school, followed him inside and shot him several times.
The parent was Kaylub Giamanco, said his mother, Kenda Freeman, in a statement read Friday to reporters.
Police found John dead in the school minutes after the first calls for help, Krantz said.
Memorials with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals popped up around the school, and drew community members Friday, including Brooke Olsen. She said she was feeling grateful that her daughter — a kindergartner — was safe while also trying to “grieve and process and recover.”
“This is an extremely painful day of grief for everybody in Bend, especially Silver Rail families,” Olsen said.
A wounded teacher was identified by family as Becky Drury. Her mother-in-law, Yvonne Drury, said on Facebook that she had injuries to her left arm and right hand and was recovering from surgery. Her husband, Will Drury, said in a statement that they’re focusing on her recovery at an “unimaginably difficult time.”
Blake Brinker said he came to a memorial at the school on Friday to pray.
“Life is such a delicate thing and I don't think anything brings that message across more than the loss of young life,” he said
Stengle contributed to this report from Dallas. Associated Press journalists Ed White in Detroit and Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.
Flowers and candles are seen at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)
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)
Flowers and candles are seen at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A fast-moving fire burned at least four homes in Southern California as hot, windy weather gripped the region Friday, prompting evacuations and power outages. TV footage showed homes burning in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, flames engulfing them.
Aerial footage from TV crews showed firefighters spraying two-story suburban homes with flames leaping out of their roofs. Black smoke billowed over tennis courts and backyard swimming pools.
The Orange County Fire Authority said four homes have burned and that two evacuation shelters have opened, one in each city. It asked those under evacuation orders to “leave now.”
The wildfire started in the coastal city of San Clemente and was driven by the wind into San Juan Capistrano. It was one of several fires burning in the region that was hit by dry, warm and gusty northeast winds known as Santa Anas, which blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore, were forecast. The strongest winds were expected through Friday afternoon but conditions that increase the fire risk were expected to last through Saturday night.
The fires have led to evacuations and tens of thousands of people in the state are without power after their electricity was turned off.
The cities are in southern Orange County near the coast and surrounded by hillsides. San Juan Capistrano, a city of 35,000, is known for horse trails while nearby San Clemente, which is home to 62,000 people, is known as a “Spanish village by the sea” and popular with beachgoers and surfers.
Victor Cabral, a city council member in San Clemente, said schools have been closed and activities canceled, and thousands were being asked to evacuate, he said.
“The fire is right up on the city,” he said. “It’s on the perimeter of our homes on the north end.”
A blaze in Malibu, a coastal town west of Los Angeles, prompted evacuation orders and warnings for a large swath of the Santa Monica Mountains. A large cloud of black smoke over the hilltops could be seen on nearby cameras and miles away.
Winds from 20 mph to 35 mph (32 kph to 56 kph) were expected Friday, with gusts forecast to reach 50 mph up to 70 mph (80 kph to 112 kph) in some areas, the National Weather Service said.
With humidity levels dropping, “this will favor a critical fire weather threat,” the service said early Friday.
More than 400 firefighters battled the Bryson Fire overnight, which was at 250 acres (100 hectares) on Friday morning. It had threatened a Los Angeles County juvenile detention and rehabilitation facility, which was evacuated Thursday night.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who faced criticism for her city's response to deadly fires in 2025, directed the fire department to deploy personnel and equipment ahead of the winds. The fire department also requested assistance from the state’s office of emergency services.
“It’s a pretty widespread event of elevated fire weather, so the whole SoCal region should really be on alert,” said Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The Santa Anas could reach 20 to 40 mph (32 to 64 kph), with gusts from 50 to 70 mph (80 to 113 kph), in the San Gabriel mountains in Los Angeles County and the Santa Susana mountains, which are mostly in Ventura County, Schoenfeld said. Elevated, though brief, critical fire weather conditions were also forecast for portions of the Santa Lucia mountains in San Luis Obispo County.
Firefighters on Friday worked to contain two other fires that had sparked Thursday afternoon and triggered evacuation orders in the city of Azusa, north of LA, and Camp Pendleton, near San Diego.
More than 175,000 customers in northern, central and southern California were without electricity as of Friday, according to poweroutage.com.
Some of California’s worst wildfires have been sparked by power equipment, and utilities in recent years have begun proactively shutting off power during dry, windy weather in an effort to prevent blazes.
A wind-driven fire in Azusa burned over 40 acres (16 hectares) on Thursday and briefly prompted evacuation orders for a neighborhood in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. Forward progress on the blaze had been stopped by midafternoon.
Farther south, a fire at Camp Pendleton threatened buildings. Evacuation orders were issued in the Las Flores area of the military base and lifted by evening, military officials said in a statement.
In Northern California, some communities in the Sierra Nevada and its foothills began experiencing strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity Wednesday night.
The weather service issued a red flag warning for parts of central and Northern California through Friday morning, saying any fires would spread rapidly. Such warnings are issued when weather conditions create an increased risk of wildfires.
The potential interruption in electricity to customers from the Central Coast to the upper corners of the Sierra Nevada could last through Saturday afternoon, Pacific Gas and Electric Company said.
Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding contributed from Los Angeles.
The sun is obscured by smoke as firefighters work to save structures on Via La Mirada during the Norte fire in San Clemente, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP)
Firefighters work to save structures on Via La Mirada during the Norte fire in San Clemente, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP)
The Bryson Fire illuminates a ridge top on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Crews make a stand in front of the Bryson Fire on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Crews make a stand in front of the Bryson Fire on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A tanker drops retardant on the Peak Fire Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Azusa, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Hot spots glow across a hillside during the Bryson Fire in Malibu, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
