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Kristen Vanetsky and her family moved to Bend, Oregon, after a shooting in their neighborhood in New Mexico, and chose the Silver Rail school for her grandson because they considered it safe.
But their world came crashing down on Thursday when a 16-year-old entered the school and opened fire, killing three children and a teacher, and wounding another child and another educator, before being shot down by a man who was carrying a weapon and happened to be on the scene.
"This is unthinkable," Vanetsky told AFP as she sat in front of the school this Friday morning.
"It destroyed our innocence, our sense of security," said the 52-year-old woman, who went to the school on Friday to try to understand "why this keeps happening."
UNITED STATES RECORDS 371 SHOOTINGS IN 2026
Thursday's tragedy in Bend, a city of about 100,000 residents in central Oregon, is one of 371 shootings that have occurred this year in the United States, according to figures from the Gun Violence Archive, which compiles statistics on these cases.
"There is nowhere to go, you cannot run from this. The shootings just don't end," said Vanetsky, who still cannot process the tragedy at her grandson's school.
While she is grateful for the actions of the man who opened fire on the shooter, she perceives a contradiction that exposes the debate for and against guns in the United States.
"It's so strange, right? Because the problem is school shootings, and it wasn't worse thanks to a gun. It's terrible, because now that person, for the rest of his life, will have to live with the fact that he shot a 16-year-old to save the lives of a bunch of other children," she said.
Vanetsky described the Bend community as close-knit, "like a big team of good people," and she doesn't know how they will deal with the fact that the attacker himself was a resident of the city.
These types of tragedies, she said, "bring out the best and worst in people, don't they?"
Authorities have not yet provided details on what the attacker's motive might have been, or his connection to the school, but they did specify that he used a long gun.
Silver Rail School in mourning
Silver Rail School awoke this Friday marked off with yellow tape as a crime scene.
In the parking lot, there are still some cars, and bicycles that likely belonged to students.
At the main entrance, neighbors and parents brought flowers, candles, toys, and dolls to honor the children aged 5, 8, and 11, and the educator who passed away on Thursday.
Vanetsky said her grandson was "having a hard time" at home after the trauma he experienced on Thursday.
"My grandson should be in his classroom," Vanetsky said, looking at the second floor of the school.
"All his friends, everyone should be there, learning, having fun, thinking about their weekend, and now everything is empty. There is nothing. Not even the birds are here."
[Publicidad]