Yesterday, a teenager shot through the doors of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, and opened fire, murdering a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old as well as a teacher.

The teenager had first fired at a pickup truck in the school parking lot. A community member, believed to be a student’s father, saw him enter the building carrying a long gun, immediately followed him in, confronted him, and shot him dead before police officers arrived nearly three minutes later.

• Authorities have not released the hero’s name, but Oregon Governor Tina Kotek thanked him for stopping further loss of life.
• A fifth-grade teacher also praised him, saying he saw the danger and acted with real courage to protect others.

This was America’s 436th mass shooting this year, according to Mass Shooting Tracker, which counts any gun violence where four or more people are shot.

The man who stopped more people from being murdered shows the positive impact that courageous male leaders can have on society. Armed civilians only stop about 4 percent of the crimes the FBI tracks. Yet without this man’s intervention, many more schoolchildren and teachers would be dead today.