Four killed in Oregon elementary school shooting

A 16-year-old shooter opened fire at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, killing four people including three children before being killed by an armed person who had pursued the assailant into the school, police said.

The shooter entered the school by shooting through locked doors, police said, without offering any details beyond the shooter'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 MikeKrantz 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," Ms Kotek said.

Mr Krantz said the community member, whom he did not identify, had seen the ⁠suspect enter ‌the school and pursued him.

The shooting took place in Bend, a city of about 100,000 residents in rural central Oregon, 280 kilometres 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 studentsand 40 staff members, officials ⁠said.

Police said they received a call around 1pm local time that "indicated that an unknown man had shot into a car" at Silver Rail Elementary School.

Moments later, emergency dispatchers received multiple calls "reporting that a person had entered the school and begun shooting", police said in a statement.

Officers arrived within three minutes and found that the suspect had been shot dead.

FBI chief Kash Patel said on X that federal agents were on the scene "assisting our local partners in the investigation" and that his agency would "make every resource they need available.

Stunned and heartbroken

After a lockdown, Bend-La Pine School District said law enforcement was escorting students in buses to a separate location, where families could reunite with their children.

Parents were anxiously waiting at the site near a church, where parent Drew Sharp told CBS News, "I have faith that he's okay and that he'll be alright".

Mr Sharp said his son was a fifth grader, the highest grade in the school, and that children were disembarking from the bus youngest to oldest.

"Which makes sense," Sharp said, "but it's just more time waiting".

Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said district officials were "stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy".

"We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and to everyone affected by this violence. No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing."

Friday classes at schools across the district along with activities and athletic events were canceled, Bend-La Pine said in a statement.

The elementary school is approximately 270 kilometers southeast of the city Portland. It serves primary-age students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The district's superintendent, Steve Cook, tearfully called the day's events "an unthinkable tragedy."

"We are heartbroken. We are horrified. This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places, and pray that it never happens here," he told reporters.

US Representative Maxine Dexter, a physician who represents a portion of Portland east of the Willamette River, called the shooting a "devastating day for Oregon".

"Schools should be places of ⁠learning, friendship and joy. It is incumbent on me, and every lawmaker, to do everything we can to ensure our kids are safe," ⁠she said in a statement.