Hi all, this is a little later and going to be shorter than I intended. I woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a ton of bricks, physically. I imagine many of you feel the same way. EDIT: just to add I'll be checking the thread but I may not be able to respond to everyone, and I'm turning notifications off for my sanity. But I will read all your comments I promise. Thanks.

Bend, I'm so so sad, angry, and upset about the violence that has shattered the peace of our community and traumatized our children and school communities. This is an incredibly hard time for us all, but my soul hurts especially for our families that lost their babies and their loved ones, or are watching them recover in the hospital right now. We are all still processing the incredible grief and pain that has been wrought upon our town.

I am making this post to provide links and resources that may be helpful and informative. I have a personal comment about taking action at the end. I am incredibly proud of how we are all stepping up for each other right now. Please love on your family and your neighbors, and if you need any kind of help at all, reach out for help. Your leaders, your friends, your community are all here for you.

Links to information about the shooting that our police department has released

Please note I'm not going to be able to answer questions about victim families, facts of the investigation, or anything else like that at this point. All information about the investigation will come from our police department.

Some victim information was released during the second press conference or has been released by police to media, so you may see some of that in our local reporting right now.

Flash alert summaries: https://flashalert.net/id/bendpolice

Press conference 1 on 10/15: https://www.youtube.com/live/EHrmXkNCY2Q?si=wKYgnWXL2Kvo69-H

Press conference 2 on 10/16: https://www.youtube.com/live/vHKVplNPsZw?si=mLadPAOLpOwkwL96

Written versions of statements made at initial press conference 5:30PM at 10/15

As soon as Governor Kotek heard about the shooting, she came straight to Bend. I am so glad she was there with us on Thursday. Here are the statements that she and I made that evening. I don't have a written copy of Steve Cook's statement but you can view it at the link above. Keep in mind these statements were before additional more detailed info came out.

Mayor Kebler Statement

Today is an awful day for our community.

 Our hearts are broken as we mourn this tragedy and the profound impact it has had on so many people, especially the children, families, educators, and school staff whose lives have been forever changed.

 A school should be a safe place where children can learn and feel secure. What happened today should never happen. Like so many in our community, I am struggling to make sense of a loss that feels unimaginable.

 I encourage our community to find comfort in one another and to support the families, students, teachers, and school staff who are carrying an enormous burden today. In the coming days, there will be opportunities to gather, including a community vigil tonight, to mourn together, honor those affected and those lost, and begin the difficult process of healing.

 On behalf of the City of Bend, I extend my deepest condolences to every person impacted by this tragedy. We grieve with you.  And we will support one another through the difficult days ahead. No matter how you’re feeling right now - angry, sad, devastated, numb - those are valid feelings. And in the coming days we are all going to lean on each other for support. So, Bend, your leaders are with you. We are here for you. We grieve alongside you, and we will get through this together.

 Governor Kotek: Silver Rail Elementary Remarks  

I want to start by thanking and praising the quick thinking and courage of the Silver Rail Elementary School staff and parents - and the first responders who rushed to the scene. 

And to the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden – and my thoughts are with you.   

 Almost exactly a year ago, I was at Silver Rail Elementary. I spent time with educators and community members calling parents to thank them for the great progress their kids were making in attending school. I heard the joy and excitement about their school.  

My heart is absolutely broken. Our hearts will stay broken in the days and weeks ahead. My daily prayers will be with this community, with the children, with the parents. 

All Oregonians mourn the loss of life today. This is a horrible day. No parent should have this day. No community should live through this day. 

As we learn more about the children and the adult victims who died or were injured — and their families and their loved ones — we will weep together, and we will weep quietly to ourselves.  

We must come together and support each other, neighbor to neighbor, Oregonian to Oregonian. 

The Oregon Department of Emergency Management is coordinating across multiple state agencies, and the state stands ready to support the community in whatever it needs. 

There will be time for answering all the questions we have and search for more ways to prevent this kind of violence from happening. 

But for now, let us hold each other close in our grief, and put as much love into the world as possible. 

I also did a brief interview with NPR yesterday. I have not done any other national media. Some of our other elected representatives have done national media interviews.

RESOURCES

School resource page: https://www.blschools.org/news/silver-rail-community-information-hub

City resource page: https://bendoregon.gov/community-support-resources/

County resource page: https://www.deschutescounty.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/339

Counseling, resources for families, and more are available at the links above. Here is what is available this weekend:

Event locations and times:

Deschutes Public Library, Central Library
61956 SE Santorini St., Bend
Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Larkspur Community Center
1600 SE Reed Market Road, Bend

Friday, 4 to 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 17, from 1 to 6 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Cost: Free and open to all community members. No registration required. Interpreter services will be available.

Additional crisis support is available 24/7:

• Deschutes County Stabilization Center: 63311 NE Jamison St., Bend
• Local crisis line: 541-322-7500, ext. 9
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988

Our business community stepping up

It has been incredible to see how our local businesses have offered all sorts of food, fun events for kids, and other resources to our community at this time. There are too many to list here, but please feel free to share in the comments. Here is a spreadsheet that our staff put together yesterday you can also look at for resources. If you know of local business support going on, please link it in this thread.

Helping Silver Rail directly

You can write a letter or card of support or donate to the Silver Rail PTO. See info here. https://www.silverrailpto.org/

FBI Victim Services, Bend La Pine Schools, American Red Cross, Deschutes County Public Health, and others are working to set up a Family Assistance Center for Silver Rail. This is only for students and families of Silver Rail and school district staff. 

Please do not send any physical donations to Silver Rail, they are overwhelming to deal with and not needed right now.

Donations

Oregon Community Foundation has created a rapid response fund at https://oregoncf.org/community-impact/community-stories/standing-with-bend-in-a-time-of-need . There is no fee for OCF to administer this fund and they will work with community organizations providing direct services to families and those impacted.

There are also several GoFundMe type websites for specific victims that have already been linked here, which I'm not going to link but you can find easily.

Taking action

When I attended the vigil last night, several people asked me when it is okay to start talking about how to fix this horrible, recurring violence that happens at an unconscionable rate in our country. My answer? Right now.

One of the early emails of support the City Council got was from folks at Sandy Hook Promise, which was entirely surreal. Mayor Pro Tem Megan Perkins replied back thanking for the support. And she said "We should have done something after Sandy Hook. It should have never happened again. I know you and your organization have done everything to move our country to action. Our state has tried to make changes. But it’s not enough. We have to do more." I agree with her.

Many of us on Council have been involved in anti-gun violence advocacy since before we were elected. The way we live with this violence, especially against children, in our country is not okay. I believe there is more we can do. In the weeks ahead I will be working on this with more specificity. But if you are called to action now, please look into the groups below. There are other people like you who want change. So many, in fact. Connect with them.

Local: https://www.centraloregongunsafetyadvocates.org/
National: https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/ or https://www.everytown.org/ or https://momsdemandaction.org/

Gratitude for City staff and agency collaboration

I want to end with all the things I'm thankful for right now as we continue to grieve. We are facing hard days ahead. The national media will move on to the next tragedy. We will be picking up the pieces for a while. I'm here for you, Bend, to support us all.

Thankful for the bystanders who called 911 and intervened. Thankful for the teachers who fought in the classroom, and those that ushered their classes to safety. Thankful for all the first responders who experienced the worst day of their careers responding to that scene and doing their best to render aid. Thankful for our city staff - Sheila Miller our Public Information Officer, Eric King our City Manager, Chief Krantz, and our comms director Rene Mitchell and her team for an incredible job done in the most stressful of circumstances.

Thankful for the Governor and our state and federal representatives coming to Bend immediately to support us. Thankful for all the agencies coordinating, especially our schools and Deschutes County, to stand up mental health resources right away. Thankful for our entire community showing what it means to be Bend Strong.

Here is a link to the hub that GoFundMe fundraisers created for the Silver Rail families, which the GoFundMe organization has been working to verify directly.

https://www.gofundme.com/communities/bend-oregon-school-shooting-relief-2026

Please consider using these verified fundraisers to avoid being scammed.

Any new GoFundMe posts will be removed to avoid potential scams and confusion.