A Redmond teacher held a candle near the front of the stage at Bend’s Drake Park Thursday night, scrawling “Please protect our children” onto the pavers with sidewalk chalk.
“This could have been us,” the teacher cried out, in between speakers on the stage. She declined to provide her name.
Hundreds of people descended on Drake Park Thursday night, in the wake of the shooting at an elementary school that left five dead and two others wounded. Among the dead are three Silver Rail students, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher, Bend Police said Thursday evening. The shooter is also dead from what police say was intervention from a bystander.
Speakers at the candlelight vigil included Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and a host of faith leaders from around the Central Oregon community.
“This is a day that every mayor dreads,” Kebler said. “This is a dark day, an awful day, and a day that will impact so many of us so deeply. My daughter goes to elementary school — she does not go to Silver Rail but I know that like many of us we are parents, we know children, grandsons, grandchildren… and we know that there are simply no words for the loss we have suffered today.”
Bend-La Pine Schools are closed Friday, but Superintendent Steve Cook told reporters Thursday that crisis counselors will be on hand at the Deschutes County Central Library starting at 9 am Friday and through 3 pm, for students, staff, families or anyone else who needs it. Another community support and healing gathering takes place from 4 to 7pm at Larkspur Community Center
According to a press release from Deschutes County Health Services, St. Charles Health System and Bend-La Pine Schools, the events “will use Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) frameworks. CISM is a structured, short-term supportive discussion designed to help individuals process the acute physical, mental, and emotional reactions that naturally follow traumatic experiences.”
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
