A 16-year-old shooter opened fire on Thursday at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon in the United States, killing four people, including three children, before being killed by an armed member of the community who had pursued the assailant into the school, police said.
The shooter entered Silver Rail Elementary School by firing through locked doors, police said, without offering any details beyond the suspect's age.
The dead were children aged 5, 8 and 11 and one teacher. In addition, a 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital with critical injuries, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told a press conference.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, appearing at the same briefing, thanked the community member who “heroically intervened to stop further loss of life.”
Krantz said the community member, whom he did not identify, saw the suspect enter the school and pursued him.
Local police, emergency medical teams and federal agents converged on the campus as the situation unfolded. The school was secured while officers carried out room-by-room searches and worked to reunite students with their families.
Krantz said every Bend police officer went through a full day of active shooter training in August.
“Unfortunately, this is something we train for on a regular basis, and we must,” Krantz said. “This is going to be a long investigation.”
Thursday's shooting took place in Bend, a city of about 100,000 people in rural central Oregon, 280 kilometres southeast of Portland.
Silver Rail Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade, roughly ages 5 to 11, and has about 450 students and 40 staff members, officials said.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said she was closely monitoring developments and thanked first responders working at the scene.
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley expressed support for the affected community, saying no student or family should have to fear violence in a place of learning.
School shootings are not uncommon in the United States. Each time one occurs, it revives debates over gun laws in a country where gun rights are protected under the Constitution's second amendment. Gun rights advocates have argued for arming teachers as a means of defense.
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