Three children and teacher killed in Oregon school shooting

PORTLAND, Oregon — A 16-year-old shooter opened fire on Thursday at an elementary ‌school in Bend, Oregon, killing four people, including three children, before being killed by an armed bystander, according to police.The suspect, who has not been named, forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School by firing through locked doors, police said, without offering any details beyond the suspect’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 Mike Krantz ​told a press conference.”We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy,” Steven Cook, the top administrative official of the local school district, said in a statement.”No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing.”Emergency services responded to reports of an active shooter at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, at 12:59 local time (04:59 BST), Bend Police Department spokeswoman Sheila Miller told reporters.The first call came from a person who said that an unknown suspect was shooting into their car with a long gun, police say. Photos released from the scene show a red truck with bullet holes.Minutes later, the local county dispatch received multiple 911 calls reporting that the attacker had entered the school.A community member saw the shooting begin to unfold, pursued the attacker into the school and shot him dead, police said.Three minutes later, officers arrived at the scene. They confirmed that the attacker had been killed, and then searched the school.Police have not released the identities of any victims, the attacker, nor the bystander who shot him.Schools throughout the city of Bend have been closed on Friday, with officials saying the community needs time to heal.Around 450 children attend Silver Rail Elementary School, which has more than 40 adult staff members, police say.Local media reports suggest the school received new doors in 2022 that can lock classrooms with a flip of a switch.According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, there were 235 shooting incidents at American schools last year and at least 140 so far this year, including this one.