The city of Bend, Oregon, witnessed a horrific school shooting on Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School, leaving four people dead, including three children, and two others critically injured.
Victims: Three children between the ages of 5 and 11, along with a teacher, were killed.
Injured: A 7-year-old child and another teacher were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
The attacker: A 16-year-old boy stormed the school after shooting through its locked doors. He was subsequently shot and killed by an armed civilian who intervened to stop the attack.
Investigation: Authorities have yet to determine the motive behind the shooting, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined the investigation.
The painful irony: In a country that spends hundreds of billions of dollars annually on defense and security for Israel, American schoolchildren continue to face the threat of death inside their own classrooms.
How many more children must die before protecting schools becomes more than a political promise and translates into concrete measures to curb gun violence?