Rhoam Summer, 5, is the youngest child killed in a US school shooting. His family is asking the world to draw for him

From Dwyer Williams Cherkoss Attorneys

Rhoam Summer, the 5-year-old who was among the four victims fatally shot at an Oregon elementary school, is the youngest person ever killed in a deliberate mass attack at a US school, according to his family’s attorney and experts who track school shootings.

The littlest victim, his two classmates and a teacher were gunned down by a former student Thursday in a classroom dedicated to children with special needs at Silver Rail Elementary School in the central Oregon city of Bend.

It was 36th shooting in the United States this year on K-12 school grounds, according to CNN’s analysis of multiple databases, including the Gun Violence Archive.

“Sadly, and maybe callously, I’m not optimistic there are going to be any meaningful changes,” David Riedman, an Idaho State University assistant professor and data scientist who founded the K-12 Shooting Database , said of gun violence in US schools.

A compassionate teacher and her young students: What we know about the victims of the Bend school shooting

Rhoam is the youngest victim in 176 planned, gun-related attacks at schools since 1966 – in which 762 people were killed or wounded, including the four deaths at Silver Rail, according to Riedman’s research. Teacher Megan Lambert was killed along with Rhoam and two others, aged 8 and 11, police said. Reidman’s database includes incidents in which in a gun is fired, brandished or in which a bullet strikes K-12 school property.

School shootings in the US have declined for the past two years and the same is expected this year, according to Riedman’s research. In 2025, his data showed 235 school shootings compared to a peak of 352 in 2023.

Mass shootings at elementary schools are rare, experts say.

“It’s rarer than high schools because the children are younger, and most school shooters are between 13 and 17. So they’re usually either middle school or high school students, but there are a fair number at elementary schools, too. It’s about half are at high schools, and then about a quarter at elementary, and a quarter are at middle schools,” Riedman said.

A group of attorneys retained by Rhoam’s parents, in a statement, said the boy is the youngest person ever killed in a US school shooting.

“No child should have to experience or worry about violence in their school or parent fear for the safety of their kid in school,” one of the attorneys, Tim Williams, told CNN on Tuesday.

“You would expect it more to happen at a high school as opposed to a grade school. It’s just these poor parents that have really no inkling of caution because your kid’s entering kindergarten. You’re not going to think your school’s going to get shot up if your kid’s in kindergarten. I don’t even have words for it,” Williams added.

Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

It took just 3 minutes. How the Bend school shooting unfolded

In a statement, Rhoam’s parents, Kelik and Lillian Summer, recalled his kindness.

“Anytime there were guests in our home, he would pull out cups to get everyone drinks or make sure everyone had a snack or make sure everyone had a stuffy to cuddle,” the parents said. “He wanted to share everything he had. His heart knew no limits and it grew with him every single day. We were so proud of who he was and who he was growing to be.”

His parents asked people to draw in his honor.

“Rhoam was not a child art prodigy, but he had the purest heart and he put love into every scribble, splash or paint, or smashed leaf he tried to shape,” they said.

Last Thursday, a 16-year-old shooter forced his way into the Oregon school by firing into the glass panes of an external set of doors, according to police. He was identified as Griffin J. John II , a former special needs student at the school, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said.

A teacher, who was not injured, threw her cellphone at the shooter, tackled him and tried to get the gun, the police chief said. Kaylub Giamanco, whose children attend the school, followed the suspect and shot him to death.

Becky Drury, a 54-year-old inclusion educational assistant from Bend, and Saylor Graham, 7, were injured in the shooting.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

School shootings in the US: Fast facts

The two deadliest elementary school shootings in the US involved victims between the ages of six and 11. At the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a former student on December 14, 2012, killed six adults and 20 children, who were 6 and 7 years old. In 2022, the 19 children killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, were between 9 and 11 years old.

“With Sandy Hook, it didn’t make a difference, much of a difference really,” James Alan Fox, a professor at Northeastern University who, with USA Today and The Associated Press, helped create the Mass Killing Database , said of stemming gun violence in schools.

“We had lots of young children killed in Uvalde. It didn’t make a difference. The fact this boy is the youngest, I guess you could say it will have an effect, but really no difference in substance in terms of five versus six, versus seven versus eight. And for the families, it doesn’t matter, obviously.”

来自 Dwyer Williams Cherkoss 律师事务所

据罗姆·萨默 (Rhoam Summer) 家人的律师和追踪校园枪击案的专家称，这位在俄勒冈州一所小学枪击案中丧生的 5 岁男孩是四名遇难者之一，也是美国学校蓄意大规模袭击中丧生的最年轻的人。

周四，在俄勒冈州中部城市本德的银轨小学一间专门为有特殊需要的儿童设立的教室里，一名学生枪杀了年龄最小的受害者、他的两名同学和一名老师。

根据 CNN 对包括枪支暴力档案库在内的多个数据库的分析，这是今年美国 K-12 学校操场发生的第 36 起枪击事件。

“令人遗憾的是，或许有些冷酷无情，我对美国校园枪支暴力问题不会有任何实质性的改变并不乐观，”爱达荷州立大学助理教授兼数据科学家大卫·里德曼（David Riedman）说道，他是 K-12 枪击数据库的创始人。

一位富有同情心的老师和她的学生们：关于本德校园枪击案的受害者，我们了解多少？

根据里德曼的研究，自1966年以来，在176起有预谋的校园枪击案中，罗姆是其中最年轻的受害者。这些枪击案共造成762人伤亡，其中包括银轨学校枪击案中的四名遇难者。警方称，教师梅根·兰伯特与罗姆以及另外两名分别为8岁和11岁的儿童一同遇难。里德曼的数据库收录了所有涉及枪支射击、挥舞枪支或子弹击中中小学财产的事件。

根据里德曼的研究，过去两年美国校园枪击案数量有所下降，预计今年也将如此。他的数据显示，2025年校园枪击案数量将为235起，而2023年的峰值则为352起。

专家表示，小学发生大规模枪击事件的情况很少见。

“小学枪击案比高中枪击案少见，因为学生年龄更小，大多数校园枪击案凶手年龄在13到17岁之间。所以他们通常是初中生或高中生，但小学也有相当数量的枪击案发生。大约一半的枪击案发生在高中，四分之一发生在小学，四分之一发生在初中，”里德曼说。

罗姆的父母聘请的一组律师在一份声明中表示，这名男孩是美国校园枪击案中遇难的最年轻的人。

“任何孩子都不应该在学校里经历或担心暴力，家长也不应该担心孩子在学校的安全，”其中一位律师蒂姆·威廉姆斯周二告诉 CNN。

“你会觉得这种事更有可能发生在高中而不是小学。只是这些可怜的家长们根本没有丝毫警惕，因为他们的孩子才刚上幼儿园。你不会想到孩子上幼儿园的时候学校会发生枪击案吧？我简直无语了，”威廉姆斯补充道。

Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

仅仅用了3分钟。本德校园枪击案是如何发生的。

罗姆的父母凯利克和莉莲·萨默在一份声明中回忆了他的善良。

“每当家里来客人，他都会拿出杯子给大家倒饮料，确保每个人都有零食，或者确保每个人都有毛绒玩具可以抱，”父母说。“他想和大家分享他所拥有的一切。他心胸宽广，而且每天都在成长。我们为他感到无比自豪，也为他正在成长为的优秀人才而感到骄傲。”

他的父母请大家为他作画以示纪念。

“罗姆虽然不是艺术神童，但他有一颗最纯洁的心，他把爱倾注到他尝试塑造的每一笔涂鸦、每一泼颜料、每一片被他揉碎的树叶中，”他们说。

据警方称，上周四，一名16岁的枪手强行闯入俄勒冈州一所学校，他向外门的玻璃窗开枪。本德市警察局长迈克·克兰茨表示，枪手已被确认为格里芬·J·约翰二世，他曾是该校的一名特殊教育学生。

警方负责人称，一名未受伤的教师向枪手扔出手机，扑倒他并试图夺枪。卡尤布·贾曼科的孩子就读于这所学校，她尾随嫌疑人并将其击毙。

来自本德的 54 岁融合教育助理贝基·德鲁里和 7 岁的塞勒·格雷厄姆在枪击事件中受伤。

马克·威尔逊/盖蒂图片社

美国校园枪击案：简要事实

美国历史上最致命的两起小学枪击案的受害者年龄都在6岁至11岁之间。2012年12月14日，康涅狄格州纽敦市桑迪胡克小学发生枪击案，一名该校前学生枪杀了6名成年人和20名儿童，其中20名儿童年龄在6岁至7岁之间。2022年，德克萨斯州尤瓦尔迪市罗布小学发生枪击案，19名遇难儿童年龄在9岁至11岁之间。

“桑迪胡克枪击案并没有起到什么作用，真的没有起到多大作用，”东北大学教授詹姆斯·艾伦·福克斯（James Alan Fox）说道。他曾与《今日美国》和美联社合作创建了大规模杀戮数据库，谈到遏制校园枪支暴力时，他这样说道。

“尤瓦尔德有很多幼童被杀害。但这并没有什么区别。这个男孩是最小的，我想你可能会说这会有影响，但实际上，五岁、六岁、七岁、八岁之间并没有什么本质区别。对家属来说，这显然也无关紧要。”