At least four victims have been killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Oregon, part of the northwestern United States, according to local law enforcement.
The shooting on Thursday took place at Silver Rail Elementary school in the city of Bend, about 160km (100 miles) southeast of Portland.
Three children were among the killed: They were ages 5, 8 and 11, according to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz. A teacher was also among the dead.
In addition, a seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were transported to the St Charles Medical Center in Bend with critical injuries.
In an afternoon news conference, Krantz identified the alleged shooter as a 16-year-old Bend resident, who has since been killed. The suspect has yet to be named.“What the initial investigation is showing is that the shooter had forced their way into the school by shooting at locked doors,” Krantz said. He added that investigators were still determining whether the suspect had attended the school at any point.
Emergency services began receiving calls for help around 12:59pm local time (19:59 GMT), with “dozens” of additional calls in the ensuing minutes.
The first call, Krantz explained, came from “a person in a vehicle who reported being shot at multiple times by a person with a long gun”. The elementary school went into lockdown at 1:01pm (20:01 GMT), and officers arrived on the scene shortly thereafter.
“ Moments later, an officer reported that a suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him,” Krantz said.
