Oregon school shooting: Three children, teacher killed; bystander stops teenage attacker

A 16-year-old boy opened fire at a primary school in Bend, in the United States state of Oregon, on Thursday afternoon, killing three children and a teacher before he was shot dead by a member of the public, police said.

The teenager forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School by firing at locked doors, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said. The three children killed were aged five, eight and 11. A seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital in a critical condition, the police said.

Chief Krantz said the attacker was shot dead by a community member who "pursued him into the school and engaged him". Neither the suspect nor the person who intervened has been named by the police. It is not yet known whether the teenager had any link to the school, and the police have not stated a possible motive.

Officials have released limited details so far and say the investigation is at an early stage. The police have not said where the firearm came from or how it was obtained. Because the case involves a minor and a continuing inquiry, further information is expected to emerge slowly.

Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in central Oregon, a largely rural state in the north-western United States. Attacks of this kind are rare in the region, although schools across the country have been targeted with increasing frequency over the past two decades.

Firearm injuries have in recent years ranked among the leading causes of death for American children and teenagers, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Databases that track shootings on school grounds record hundreds of such incidents every year in the United States.

The attack is likely to renew the long-running American debate over gun laws. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms, and the Supreme Court has struck down several restrictions on that right in recent years. Supporters of tighter regulation point to the frequency of mass shootings; opponents argue that lawful gun ownership is a constitutionally protected right and that new restrictions would penalise responsible owners.

In 2022, the US Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant federal gun legislation in decades, which expanded background checks for buyers under 21 and funded mental health and school safety programmes. In the same year, Oregon voters approved a ballot measure requiring permits to purchase a firearm and limiting magazine capacity; its implementation has been delayed by legal challenges.

Unverified claims about the attack circulated online soon after the first reports, a pattern that has become common following mass shootings in the United States. Police have not confirmed any such claims.

This report is based on information released by the Bend Police Department. Details may change as the investigation continues.