Oregon school shooter was 16-year-old whose mother purchased the gun he used, sources say

A teenager who gunned down three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school Thursday was a 16-year-old former student, officials said Friday. Griffin J. John II had previously attended Silver Rail Elementary School, Police Chief Mike Krantz said. He was shot and killed by a bystander. John had been a special needs student at the school, Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said. He was not currently enrolled in the district, Cook said. All of the victims were in a special needs classroom, he said. Three boys, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were killed. A 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were injured, police said.

A female teacher struggled with John to try to take control of the firearm, a Mossberg Maverick 88 pump-action shotgun, officials said on Friday. “She was not injured in that incident but she almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed,” Krantz said, and praised both the bystander and the teacher as heroic and selfless. The youngest victim, Rhoam Summer, had long, curly hair and his death has left his family “broken and lost,” they said in a statement. Officials identified the teacher killed as Megan Lambert, a volleyball coach. The names of the other victims killed were not released at the request of their families, officials said. Krantz said the