The youngest child killed in a shooting at an Oregon school was a fast runner and a fearless climber who also loved reading and his stuffed animals, his aunt said Friday.
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aunt → kill → reading
Rhoam Summer, 5, was one of three children killed along with a teacher in the shooting Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, a mountain-ringed city of about 100,000 in central Oregon.
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Summer → kill → Oregon
The other two children killed were ages 8 and 11, and a fourth student and another teacher were wounded, police have said.
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police → kill → ?
“He never met a stuffie that he didn’t think needed to be rescued and cared for,” said Swan Sheridan, whose sister is Summer’s mother.
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sister → meet → stuffie
Sheridan said Summer liked for all of his sea creature stuffed animals to be in his favorite color: rainbow.
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all → say → color
“He had a great fondness for sharks and dinosaurs and creatures that were in his words, ‘misunderstood,’” she said.
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she → have → words
Sheridan said her nephew would climb and jump off anything and was an “incredibly fast” runner, even from a young age.
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nephew → say → age
“He was a little ball of energy from the moment he was born,” she said.
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she → bear → moment
“He was a very, very happy child,” she said.
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she → say → ?
Teacher Megan Lambert, 25, was killed, said police Chief Mike Krantz at a Friday afternoon news conference.
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Krantz → kill → conference
Police confirmed Summer was one of those killed but won’t release names of the other children who died at the request of their families.
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who → confirm → families
Lambert had her “dream job,” her family said in statement read at the news conference.
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family → have → conference
Lambert grew up in Bend, graduated from Boise State in 2023, had a passion for sports, especially volleyball, and was a local coach, relatives said.
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relatives → grow → sports
They described her as funny and opinionated and said she “lit up the room.”
“Megan was compassionate and had a huge heart,” her family said in the statement.
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family → describe → statement
“She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs.”
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She → fight → needs
Police said 16-year-old Griffin J. John II got into the school by shooting through locked doors.
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II → say → doors
Authorities said John had been a special needs student at the school and attacked a classroom with special needs students.
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John → say → students
Krantz said a parent saw John shooting outside the school, followed him inside and shot him several times.
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John → say → him
The parent was Kaylub Giamanco, said his mother, Kenda Freeman, in a statement read Friday to reporters.
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mother → say → reporters
Police found John dead in the school minutes after the first calls for help, Krantz said.
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Krantz → find → help
Memorials with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals popped up around the school, and drew community members Friday, including Brooke Olsen.
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Memorials → stuff → Olsen
She said she was feeling grateful that her daughter — a kindergartner — was safe while also trying to “grieve and process and recover.”
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daughter → say → ?
“This is an extremely painful day of grief for everybody in Bend, especially Silver Rail families,” Olsen said.
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Olsen → say → Bend
Police identified the wounded teacher as Becky Drury, 54.
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Police → identify → Drury
Police said her injuries were serious but not life threatening, and she was hospitalized.
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she → say → ?
Her mother-in-law, Yvonne Drury, said on Facebook that she had injuries to her left arm and right hand and was recovering from surgery.
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she → say → surgery
Her husband, Will Drury, said in a statement that they’re focusing on her recovery at an “unimaginably difficult time.”
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they → say → time
Blake Brinker said he came to a memorial at the school on Friday to pray.
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he → say → Friday
“Life is such a delicate thing and I don’t think anything brings that message across more than the loss of young life,” he said
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This story has been updated to correct the name of the teacher killed Thursday.
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story → think → teacher
She is Megan Lambert, not Meghan Lambert as police originally reported.
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police → report → ?
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Stengle contributed to this report from Dallas.
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Stengle → contribute → Dallas
Associated Press journalists Ed White in Detroit and Philip Marcelo in New York also contributed to this report.
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White → contribute → report
The Aporia
