Oregon father is the latest armed civilian to confront a gunman in a U.S. mass shooting

A 16-year-old gunman, who was a former special needs student, shot and killed three children and a teacher at Silver Rail elementary school in Bend, Oregon, according to France 24. The attack also left another child and an educator critically wounded. Officials praised the heroism of individuals who helped shorten the rampage, and an armed bystander pursued the gunman into the school and shot him dead, as reported by Malay Mail.

Kristen Vanetsky, a 52-year-old grandmother whose 10-year-old grandson attends the school, told AFP that the events were "unthinkable" and had taken away the innocence of the children. Vanetsky, who had moved her family to Bend from New Mexico because she believed the area was safer, expressed gratitude for the man who fired back but noted the contradiction of using a gun to solve a problem caused by a gun.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, this massacre in the city of approximately 100,000 people is the 371st mass shooting in the United States this year. PBS NewsHour notes that the concept of armed citizens acting as a first line of defense is a long-standing rallying cry for gun rights advocates.

Brief written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour, France 24, Malay Mail — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.