(Reuters) - A 16-year-old shooter opened fire on Thursday at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, 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."
"No parent should have to have this kind of day, and no community should have to live through this kind of day. And as we learn more about the children and the adults who have been killed or injured, and their families and their loved ones, we are going to do a lot of crying, and we are going to cry together, and we're probably going to cry privately," Kotek said.
Krantz said the community member, whom he did not identify, saw the suspect enter the school and pursued him.
School shootings have become a recurring feature of American life, including high-profile attacks such as those at Columbine High School in 1999, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.
Each shooting 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.
POLICE TRAINED FOR MASS SHOOTING
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, 175 miles (280 km) southeast of Portland, in the Oregon high desert adjacent to the Deschutes National Forest.
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.
Gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived a mass shooting in 2011, said in a statement she was "heartbroken" by the shooting in Bend.
"This cannot continue to be a reality in our country. Leaders at every level must step up and act,” Giffords said.
Emergency responders received a call at 12:59 p.m. PDT (1959 GMT) from a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by someone with a long gun, Krantz said.
In the minutes afterwards, dozens of calls were received saying the shooter had entered the school, Krantz said. Law enforcement immediately directed the school to go into lockdown, he said.
Officers arrived at 1:02 p.m. and moments later an officer reported the suspect had been shot, Krantz said. Police entered and confirmed the suspect was dead, he said.
