- Shooting at Oregon school killed three children, one teacher.
- Suspect, 16, killed after being confronted by community member.
- Police responded quickly; district cancelled all classes next day.
Three children aged five, eight and 11, along with a teacher, were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Oregon, United States, on Thursday, police said. The 16-year-old suspect, a local resident, was also killed after a community member confronted him inside the school.
“The deceased at the scene include three children, ages five, eight, and 11, and one teacher,” AFP quoted Mike Krantz, chief of the Bend Police Department, as saying.
Police identified the suspect as a 16-year-old resident of Bend. Krantz said the teenager was shot by a community member who had seen him enter the school and followed him inside.
“We have identified the suspect as a 16-year-old Bend resident,” Krantz said, adding that “the 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.”
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Police Responded To Multiple Emergency Calls
Sheila Miller, a spokesperson for the Bend Police Department, said officers initially responded to reports of a gunshot fired into a car. Within minutes, they received several emergency calls reporting an active shooter inside the school.
Police reached the scene within minutes of receiving the first call at 1 pm local time (2000 GMT). Officers subsequently received radio communication that “the shooter had been shot and killed,” AFP reported.
Police had scheduled a second briefing for 5:30 pm local time (0030 GMT).
CNN and CBS News also reported that four people, including three children and an adult, had been killed, citing law enforcement sources.
Silver Rail Elementary has between 400 and 450 students and more than 40 staff members, Miller said. The school serves children from kindergarten through fifth grade and is located approximately 170 miles (270 kilometres) southeast of Portland.
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Students Evacuated After School Lockdown; Classes Cancelled Across District
Following a lockdown at school, the Bend-La Pine School District said law enforcement officers were escorting students on buses to a separate location where they could reunite with their families.
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,” Cook said.
The school district announced that classes at schools across the district would remain cancelled on Friday. Activities and sporting events were also called off.
The shooting adds to the toll of gun violence in the United States, where firearms are widely available and thousands of people are killed by gunfire every year. The country has the highest rate of gun-related deaths among developed nations.
The deadliest school shooting in US history took place at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.
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