The youngest victim in Thursday’s mass shooting at an Oregon elementary school has been identified as 5-year-old Rhoam Summer, who had recently started kindergarten, according to his father.
Rhoam was killed along with two other students, aged 8 and 11, and a teacher by an unidentified 16-year-old gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend. A bystander intervened and fatally shot the teen, according to police.
Kelik Summer, Rhoam’s father, confirmed his son’s death in a Facebook post on Thursday. "My son Rhoam was killed in a school shooting. We are broken and lost, but are surrounded by friends and family who are keeping us safe," Summer wrote.
Rhoam had started kindergarten at the school last month. A post from a local daycare, Basic Beginnings, on May 14 stated, "How much we’ll be missing Rhoam when he ventures off to Kindergarten this year."
Loved ones have initiated a fundraising effort, raising more than $12,500 to support the family, according to a Meal Train page launched Thursday.
The shooting began around 1 p.m. Thursday when the 16-year-old allegedly fired at a man in a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in the school’s parking lot. A law-enforcement source told the Associated Press that the teen used a pump-action shotgun his mother had purchased.
The gunman then allegedly threw his weapon over a fence, entered the school grounds, and fired at locks before forcing his way inside and opening fire. Another 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz stated that the shooter was engaged by a community member who observed him entering the school and pursued him inside. Officers discovered the suspect deceased and began treating victims before evacuating the building, which serves approximately 400 to 450 students. Authorities have not yet disclosed whether the suspect had prior connections to the school or any of the victims.