Guwahati: Three children aged 5, 8 and 11, along with a teacher, were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, in the United States on Thursday, police said. The 16-year-old suspected shooter was found dead inside the school when officers arrived.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said a community member pursued the shooter into the school and shot him. However, police spokesperson Sheila Miller said it was not immediately clear who had shot the suspect, adding that it may have been a bystander.
Police received a 911 call at 12.59 pm reporting that an unidentified man had fired a shot into a car outside the school. Within minutes, further emergency calls reported that a person had entered the school and opened fire.
Officers arrived shortly after the initial call and began evacuating people from the premises. Police said they were moving room to room to ensure everyone inside was evacuated.
“We’re in the process at this time of going room by room and evacuating each of the people who are in that school,” Miller said during a media briefing.
“This is the kind of thing we never want to see happen in Bend. It’s devastating,” she said, pausing to compose herself.
Silver Rail Elementary School was placed under lockdown following the shooting. The Bend-La Pine school district also established a reunification point where families could collect their children.
“We are stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy,” Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said in a statement. “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.”
The school serves children from kindergarten through fifth grade and had 459 enrolled students as of last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education.