Photo: Roc0ast3r / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
At least three children and one adult were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, according to multiple law-enforcement sources cited by US television networks, as police confirmed that children were among the victims and that the suspected gunman was also dead.
Bend Police Department communications manager Sheila Miller told reporters that authorities received a call about a shot fired into a car outside the school at about 12:59 p.m. local time and arrived within minutes. Officers then learned the suspect had been shot and was down inside the school. Miller said it was not yet confirmed who shot the suspect and that it “may have been a bystander.”
What police have confirmed
Miller said children were among the victims and that at least two people were taken by ambulance to St. Charles Medical Center. She did not immediately give a full casualty count or the conditions of those injured. Police said there was one suspect and that person was dead.
We’re in the process at this time of going room by room and evacuating each of the people who are in that school. … This is the kind of thing we never want to see happen in Bend. It’s devastating.
Sheila Miller, Bend Police Department
According to a police account summarised in network reports, a first 911 call about shots into a vehicle was followed within about a minute by multiple calls reporting that the person had entered the school and opened fire. Officers arrived within roughly three minutes and quickly reported the shooter was dead.
Death toll still developing
Officials had not publicly confirmed a final death toll at the first briefing. CBS News and Deutsche Welle, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources, reported that three children and one adult were killed. CBS sources also said the suspect was 16 years old and was shot by a bystander, or “good Samaritan,” though Miller’s on-camera comments left that point unconfirmed.
School lockdown and federal help
Silver Rail Elementary, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade, had about 450 students and some 40 staff, Miller said. The Bend-La Pine Schools district put the campus under lockdown and later directed families to a reunification site as students were escorted out room by room.
Superintendent Steven Cook said the district was “stunned and heartbroken,” extending sympathy to families and saying the immediate priorities were caring for students and staff and assisting emergency responders.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau’s Portland office was on scene and would provide resources. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Oregon State Police were also assisting, according to a law-enforcement source cited by CBS News. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said she was monitoring the situation and was grateful to first responders.
Why it matters
Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in central Oregon, roughly 175 miles (280 kilometres) southeast of Portland. An elementary-school shooting with child victims renews scrutiny of gun violence in the United States, which records hundreds of mass shootings each year under definitions used by trackers such as the Gun Violence Archive.
Investigators have not released a motive or further details about the suspect. Police said a large law-enforcement presence would remain at the school and the reunification site. Families were urged to avoid the campus and follow official instructions as the death toll and identities were still being established.
