‘They’re all our babies’: Rep. Janelle Bynum attends vigil for Silver Rail Elementary shooting
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- After candles were raised and community members gathered at Drake Park Thursday night to mourn the lives lost in the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School, U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.) spoke with KTVZ News and said she was grieving first as a mother.
“I’m a mom. And as a mom, you want to hug your kids,” Bynum said after the vigil. “I can think of dropping my son off at school and letting him bop his way with his little backpack. And he’s 16, and they never stop being your babies. And so I just mourn the loss of these babies and their teacher.”
Three children and one adult were killed in Thursday’s shooting. One child and one adult were injured. Authorities said the suspected shooter, a 16-year-old, also died.
As the community begins to process the loss, Bynum said the way people respond — and continue supporting those affected after the initial shock fades — will help define Bend.
“What I think is really important is you get to know what a community is when you see how it treats its children,” Bynum said. “We’re here tonight to celebrate their lives, to grieve with their families, to show compassion for one another.”
Bynum said children’s safety cannot rest only with their own parents or schools. She described it as a shared responsibility that extends throughout the community, wherever children learn, play, and spend time.
“These are all of our babies. These are my babies. And they’re your babies. They’re Oregon’s babies,” Bynum said. “And so we’re responsible for every last one of them, whether they’re in public school or private school, whether they’re at the park or soccer field or on the river, on the mountain. They’re our babies, and we have to protect them.”
Governor Tina Kotek said a community member intervened during the shooting and helped stop further loss of life. Bynum pointed to that person’s actions while calling on others to confront gun violence beyond the moment of crisis.
“Those of us who weren’t there at that time, we are all bystanders,” Bynum said. “And when are we going to step up and say enough of killing our babies? When are we going to say that we need safe schools, that we need to make sure that people who should not have firearms don’t have them? When are we going to stop making excuses? When are we going to practice that same bravery that that bystander had?”
Bynum said the violence at Silver Rail is part of a broader problem that extends beyond shootings at schools and other public places. She called for deeper study of the causes of gun violence and meaningful changes aimed at preventing future deaths.
“We have very serious problems with gun violence in this country,” she said. “I hope that in the future we can really start investigating why, understanding what the root causes are, and making real change.”
Her thoughts also turned to the moments the victims and their families should have been preparing to share as fall moved forward.
“We shouldn’t be out here with candles over our babies. We should be celebrating graduations,” Bynum said. “It’s almost Halloween, and I know some of those babies had Halloween costumes just ready to go.”
Bynum ended with a message for the people who knew the children personally — from relatives and friends to the adults who coached them, taught them, and watched them discover the things they loved.
“I hope people at home think about how special these children were,” Bynum said. “If you were their soccer coach, if you were their dance teacher, if you were their painting teacher, if you were their voice coach — the kids bring us together.”
“I want the families to know that they are loved and they are covered, and they will not be let go from this community.”
Bend-La Pine Schools has announced counseling will be available to anyone in the community who needs it Friday, October 16th, at the Central Library in Bend.
