Teen gunman kills three children and a teacher at Oregon elementary school

A 16-year-old gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, killing three children and a teacher before he was shot dead by an armed member of the community who had chased him into the school, police said.

The shooter entered Silver Rail Elementary School by firing through locked doors, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said, Dawn reported, citing Reuters. Police gave no details about the suspect beyond his age.

The victims

• Killed: children aged 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher
• Critically injured: a 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher, who were taken to hospital

The school serves kindergarten to fifth grade, children aged about 5 to 11, and has around 450 students and 40 staff.

How it unfolded

Emergency services received a call at 12:59pm local time from a person in a vehicle who said they had been shot at several times by someone with a long gun, Krantz said. Within minutes, dozens of calls reported that the shooter had entered the school, which was ordered into lockdown.

Officers arrived at 1:02pm, and moments later one reported that the suspect had been shot. Police entered and confirmed he was dead.

Krantz said the community member, whom he did not name, had seen the suspect enter the school and followed him inside. Every Bend police officer had completed a full day of active-shooter training in August. “Unfortunately, this is something we train for on a regular basis, and we must,” he said.

“No parent should have to have this kind of day”

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek 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,” she said. “As we learn more about the children and the adults who have been killed or injured… we are going to do a lot of crying, and we are going to cry together.”

Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a mass shooting in 2011 and now campaigns for gun control, said she was “heartbroken”. “This cannot continue to be a reality in our country. Leaders at every level must step up and act,” she said.

A familiar American tragedy

School shootings have become a recurring feature of American life, from Columbine High School in 1999 and Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Each one revives the debate over gun laws in a country where gun rights are protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment. Gun rights advocates have argued for arming teachers.

Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in rural central Oregon, about 280 kilometres southeast of Portland.

Why it matters

Three young children and a teacher went to school and did not come home. The death toll would likely have been higher without the stranger who followed the gunman inside, and the shooting will reignite the debate in Washington over guns and children’s safety. Read our report on the school shooting in Aubagne, France.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and Reuters.