As details of the shooting that happened at Reynolds High School on Tuesday morning are starting to emerge, police have confirmed that the 15 year-old student who have opened fire at the school had an AR-15 rifle and a handgun in his possession that was taken from the family home. Jared Michael Padgett appeared to have concealed the weapons in a duffel bag and a guitar case that he was carrying as he arrived by bus, Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson said at a news conference.
Padgett, armed with an AR-15 rifle, a semiautomatic handgun, a large knife, a camouflage helmet, an ammunition vest and nine loaded magazines carrying hundreds of rounds of ammunition, attacked the school grounds, killing a student and wounded a teacher in the process, police have said. He later killed himself. The Los Angeles Times said there was no motive given for the shooting.
Anderson also admitted that Padgett was able to defeat his school's security measures.
According to police, Padget went into the locker room in the school's gym and had shot fellow freshman, 14-year-old soccer player Emilio Hoffman, to death. Padgett also grazed teacher Todd Rispler in the hip. The high school shooter then proceeded to stalk through the main hallway of his school wearing the camouflage helmet and the ammunition vest before encountering police officers entering through two separate doorways. Padgett proceeded to exchange gunfire with one of the officers, before ducking into a small restroom, of which an autopsy confirmed that the shooter then had killed himself.
Anderson acknowledged the wounded teacher's role and of the officers who responded in the shooting, and said, "I cannot emphasize enough the role that Mr. Rispler and the responding officers played in saving many, many lives yesterday. Given the weapons and amount of ammunition that the shooter was carrying, the early notification and the initial law enforcement response were critical," Anderson continued. "Every one of the teachers and students in that school did the exact right thing in a very difficult situation."
The Oregonian said House Judiciary Chairman Jeff Barker, who is a known critic of gun control, said that lawmakers will be more pressured to deal with the issue of gun control given the latest gun-related violence in a school. He said, "I want to do something that is effective. For most of the people involved in these shootings, a background check wouldn't keep them from doing what they did."
