Yesterday afternoon, a 16-year-old entered Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon and opened fire, killing three children — aged 5, 8, and 11 — and one teacher. A 7-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Five years old.
We have to stop and let that land.
The school had secure vestibules, ID checks for visitors, and electronic buzz-in systems. He shot through the locked doors to force his way in.
This is what we are told, over and over again, is the answer to school shootings: more locks, more drills, more security theater. And yesterday, in Bend, Oregon, a 5-year-old was killed anyway.
There are no words adequate to the grief of the Bend community tonight. There are no words adequate to what the families of those four victims are living through right now. Hundreds of people gathered at Drake Park last night for a prayer vigil — because that is what communities do when language fails. They show up. They stand together in the dark.
We are standing with Bend tonight.
At March For Our Lives, we were founded by young people who survived a school shooting and refused to accept that this was simply the price of living in America. We have never accepted it. We will not accept it now.
To the families of Silver Rail Elementary: we are so deeply sorry. Your children deserved to grow up. Your teacher deserved to go home. We will carry their names with us.
With love and sorrow,
March For Our Lives
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