Armed father, teacher credited with stopping Bend school shooter
Ryan Petty, filling in for Mark Walters on Armed American Radio, delivered a fact-first account of the Silver Rail Elementary School shooting in Bend, Oregon, and Bearing Arms is calling it essential listening.
Snapshot
Petty, a Bearing Arms contributor and Parkland father, walked listeners through a confirmed timeline of the attack rather than speculation. According to Petty's account, a dad with a legally secured 40-caliber pistol and an unarmed teacher stopped the gunman in roughly three minutes, despite the school being designated a "gun free zone."
Key points
- Fast timeline: Petty said a 911 call came in at 12:59 Pacific time reporting a kid with a shotgun shooting at a truck outside the school, with the first officers arriving by 1:02 p.m.
- Four killed: Petty reported three kids and a 25-year-old teacher died during the encounter.
- Teacher fought back: Petty said a disarmed teacher threw her cell phone at the shooter, then tackled him and fought for the gun.
- Armed civilian intervened: Petty said a father retrieved a legally secured 40-caliber pistol from his vehicle, entered through doors the shooter had blown open, and fired, hitting the gunman multiple times.
- Weapon details: Petty noted the shooter used a Maverick 88 pump-action 12-gauge and still had 44 rounds on him when stopped.
Quick take
Petty's broadcast, as described in the Bearing Arms piece, stuck to confirmed facts from official statements, treating the event with the seriousness grieving families deserve. The account underscores how a "gun free zone" designation did not prevent the attack, while an armed civilian and an unarmed teacher's actions were credited with ending it.
Read the full story: bearingarms.com