Four people, including three children, were killed in an Oregon elementary school shooting after a 16-year-old suspect opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend and was later found shot dead inside the building.
The victims were children aged five, eight and 11, along with a teacher, Bend police chief Mike Krantz said. A seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital with critical injuries.
Police received reports of gunfire at 12.59pm on Thursday and arrived at the school within three minutes. Officers later found five people who had died, including the suspect.
Armed community member pursued suspect into school
Chief Krantz said an armed community member had followed the teenager, who was also from Bend, into the school and “engaged him”. It remains unclear who fired the shot that killed the suspect.
Officials said the teenager forced his way into the school by shooting at locks on its doors. Police placed the building into lockdown and began searching it room by room as they evacuated pupils.
Silver Rail Elementary has between 400 and 450 pupils and more than 40 staff. Students were taken by bus to an off-site family reunification centre while emergency crews established a staging area outside the school.
Bend-La Pine Schools superintendent Steven Cook said the community was “heartbroken” and “horrified” by what had happened.
“This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here… today it happened to our children, our teachers and our families,” he said.
Oregon governor Tina Kotek thanked emergency responders and the community member who pursued the suspect, saying the intervention had stopped “further loss of life”. She said the person involved would be carrying a “heavy emotional burden”.
Mayor Melanie Kebler said: “A school should be a safe place where children can learn and feel secure. What happened today should never happen.” A vigil was planned at Drake Park as residents gathered to mourn those killed.
