TROUTDALE, Ore. — A 15-year-old gunman who killed a student at an Oregon high school had an assault rifle, handgun and several magazines of ammunition hidden in a guitar case and duffel when he rode a school bus to the campus, police said Wednesday.
Jared Michael Padgett, a freshman at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, entered a boys locker room Tuesday at a gymnasium, where he “murdered a fellow student,” police Chief Scott Anderson said.
He also wounded a teacher who managed to reach an office and alert officials, Anderson said, adding that the action by teacher Todd Rispler and responding officers likely saved lives on the campus.
The shooter later encountered officers in a hallway.
After a brief exchange of gunfire, he fled into a restroom and killed himself, police said.
Anderson said no link had been found between the shooter and 14-year-old victim Emilio Hoffman. No motive was disclosed.
“The shooter obtained the weapons from his family home,” Anderson said.
“The weapons had been secured, but he defeated the security measures.”
Padgett fired an AR-15-type rifle and carried a semi-automatic handgun, large knife and nine loaded ammunition magazines capable of holding several hundred rounds, Anderson said. The attacker was wearing a camouflage helmet and ammo vest.
In the aftermath, the governor called the violence senseless, the Troutdale mayor praised the police response and the school district superintendent said she had once hoped she could get through her career without a school shooting.
