BREAKING: Oregon Governor Declares State of Emergency as AbleChild Calls for Toxicology Report
Republished with permission from AbleChild
Asking taxpayers for more money is easy. Accounting for the state’s decisions before a mass killing is harder. Flanked by Bend area lawmakers and state agency leaders, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced a state of emergency following the Silver Rail Elementary School shooting and plans to seek additional recovery funding.
An impressive lineup of public officials. But who would explain what role, if any, their agencies played in Griffin J. John II’s life before the shooting?
The timing raises a question the governor should answer. The State of Emergency announcement came the same day the AbleChild article calling for the state to release the toxicology report appeared in The Gateway Pundit.
The governor wants a “long conversation.” The public deserves answers, starting with the information the state already has.
At the October 26 press conference announcing a state of emergency, Kotek said:
“When it comes to the 16-year-old who was the shooter, we have to examine, and there will be a long conversation about what were those points, decision points that could have been different to help a young person like that who wasn’t engaged at the end.”
“Wasn’t engaged at the end.”
Engaged with whom? Which school services? Which providers? Which state programs? Was Kotek describing information officials already possessed?
Kotek’s answer left those questions unanswered. What decision points? Whose decisions? What did officials know? Which records will support their answers? With state education and health leaders beside Kotek, this was an opportunity to explain what officials knew about John’s history, what remained under investigation, and who would examine any involvement by public programs?
Instead, the governor spoke of “decision points” without identifying the decisions or the people responsible for them.
Asked what more could be done about school security, Kotek said:
“This is more about intervening and preventing than what we can do with the hardening of a school building.”
Then start there.
What interventions, if any, did John receive before the shooting? Who provided them? Who assessed whether they were working? Were concerns documented and shared? Did any state agency fund, oversee, or provide services? Were psychiatric medications prescribed? What do the records establish?
Education Director Charlene Williams referred to “the ecosystem about supporting this youth.” An ecosystem? Name its parts. The public does not need a nature documentary. It needs an accounting. Name the agencies, identify their responsibilities, and establish the timeline. Explain what support reached John and who was responsible for following up.
“Ecosystem” should not become a word so broad that individual responsibility disappears inside it. AbleChild is the only nonprofit or news organization calling for disclosure of the shooter’s toxicology report. Is the report complete? What can lawfully be released? If information is withheld, what specific legal authority supports that decision?
More press conferences must mean more opportunities for follow-up questions, not simply more prepared statements. Officials should explain what investigators have established, what remains unknown, and how relevant records and physical evidence are being preserved.
Kotek plans to seek funding for substitute educators, repairs, and recovery expenses. That request does not explain whether state agencies were involved with John before the killing, or what those agencies did.
An emergency order is not an investigative finding. A funding request is not an accounting. A “long conversation” is no substitute for the records. Asking the public to pay is the easy part. Opening the state’s own decisions to scrutiny is the test.
AbleChild is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has recently co-written landmark legislation in Tennessee, setting a national precedent for transparency and accountability in the intersection of mental health, pharmaceutical practices, and public safety.
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