Three children, one teacher killed in shooting at Oregon elementary school

A 16-year-old gunman killed three students and a teacher at a primary school in Bend, in the US state of Oregon. The attack took place at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday afternoon, local time. The attacker was later shot dead by a civilian.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told a press conference that the children who died were aged five, eight and 11. Two others were seriously injured and are in hospital, and one report says one of them is a seven-year-old child. The chief said the families of the dead and injured have been notified.

According to police, a report of shots fired at a car came in at 12:59 pm. Within a minute, multiple emergency calls reported a gunman inside the school. Officers reached the scene at 1:02 pm, by which time the attacker was already dead.

Krantz said the attacker was a Bend resident armed with a long gun. He forced his way into the school by shooting at its locked doors. Police have not yet confirmed whether he had any connection to the school, and the motive is unknown. Police said a legally armed man followed the teenager into the building and opened fire, and the attacker died from those shots.

The school was locked down immediately after the attack. Students were later bussed to nearby Journey Church, where arrangements were made for parents to reunite with their children. Anxious parents gathered there, waiting to be reunited with their children.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler and Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steve Cook expressed grief over the incident. Cook called it a “senseless tragedy”. The FBI’s Portland team is also working at the scene. Police said the investigation will continue for several days and security around the school will remain heightened. All classes and activities, including sports, are cancelled across the school district on Friday.

According to local outlet KATU, this is the first such attack at a school in Oregon in more than a decade, and the second deadliest school shooting in the state’s history.

Gun violence is not new in the US, where firearms are easy to obtain. Among developed countries, the US has the highest rate of gun deaths. The deadliest attack on an educational institution in the country took place on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech, where South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before taking his own life.