Thousands of people gathered in Bend’s Drake Park for a vigil Thursday evening, hours after a 16-year-old opened fire at a local elementary school, killing three children and a teacher, police said.
Attendees carried candles and handfuls of flowers and clutched boxes of tissues and stuffed toys as the sun set over the park, which is close to the central Oregon city’s downtown and along the scenic Deschutes River.
Krista Johnson, who lives near Silver Rail Elementary School, where students ages 5, 8 and 11 were killed, attended the vigil. She said she was on her way home from the gym when she saw police swarming the school.
“I remember so many people stopping what they were doing,” Johnson said. “I knew that something had happened.”
An unidentified bystander who had spotted the 16-year-old enter the school around 1 p.m., followed the teen and fatally shot him, police said.
Gov. Tina Kotek attended the vigil alongside Mayor Melanie Kebler.
“There is power and love in this park tonight,” the governor said. “On behalf of everyone who lives in Oregon, I am so sorry for what you are experiencing today. No parent, no family, no community should have to have this kind of day.”
Kebler said she would ordinarily be pleased to see so many people from Bend come together. “But this is the day that every mayor dreads,” Kebler said. “This is a dark day, an awful day, and a day that will impact so many of us, so deeply.”
Matt Paine, who lives in Bend, said he has been feeling “profound, deep sorrow” all day. “It’s a small town,” he said. “We heard about it before it was in the news.”
Danielle White, the family engagement specialist at La Pine High School, said it was “surreal” seeing how many people gathered.
“Everybody just wanted, I think, to be together,” she said. “Nobody wants to be alone right now. There’s power I think in community and connection.”
She described seeing a “shift” at the high school when students learned Thursday what had happened.
Some were angry, others sad, she said. School is canceled Friday.
“I don’t know what,” White said, “Monday is going to bring.”
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