- Published
A 16-year-old fatally shot three children and a teacher at a primary school in the US state of Oregon before he was killed by a bystander.
The unnamed attacker forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School in the US city of Bend on Thursday afternoon by shooting at locked doors, police said.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said the teen was shot dead by "a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him".
The three children killed were aged five, eight and 11. A seven-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to a hospital in a critical condition, police said. It is unclear if the assailant had any links to the school.
"We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy," Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said in a statement.
"No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing."
Local law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, at 12:59 local time, Bend Police Department spokeswoman Sheila Miller told reporters.
The first call indicated that an unknown suspect had shot into a car, she said. Photos released from the scene show a red truck with bullet holes.
Minutes later, the local county dispatch received a flood of 911 calls and law enforcement were sent to the scene.
The suspected shooter was shot dead at around 13:02pm, Miller said.
While police said the shooter was a local 16-year-old boy, they declined to add further details pending the ongoing investigation.