Ore. teen shooter laid to rest; questions remain about actions

Associated Press

GRESHAM, Ore.

The 15-year-old boy who fatally shot a fellow freshman at an Oregon high school last week has been laid to rest, but the questions about why he did it remain.

The funeral that followed Jared Padgett’s graveside service Monday was much like any other for a boy who didn’t live long enough to become a man. The photos on the program displayed Padgett as a baby, a student, with family at the beach and leaning against a tree with his arms crossed on an autumn day.

A more-recent photo showed him stern-faced in his uniform for the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, a glimpse of the future the aspiring serviceman denied himself when he arrived at Reynolds High School armed with an assault rifle, handgun and knife and gunned down 14-year-old Emilio Hoffman before killing himself in a bathroom when confronted by police.

Investigators have not released a motive for the June 10 attack.

Those who eulogized the teen before about 200 people at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Gresham seemed at a loss for what caused the devout Mormon to open fire at his school.