Three children, teacher killed in US

LOS ANGELES
Three children and one teacher were shot dead at an elementary school on Thursday in the north-western US state of Oregon, police said, adding that the assailant was a 16-year-old who was killed by an armed bystander.
Another child and a teacher were being treated for critical injuries after the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, a city of about 100,000 people.
Mike Krantz, Bend’s police chief, told journalists that the department first learnt of an active shooter after receiving a call from a person who reported being shot at multiple times by someone carrying a long gun.
Dozens of emergency calls then reported that a shooter had entered the school, and all law enforcement officers in the area were called to the scene, Krantz said.
Officers arrived at 1:02 pm local time (2002 GMT), within minutes of the calls, the police chief said. “Moments later, an officer reported that the suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school, pursued him inside and engaged him,” Krantz continued.
“Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead.” Officers provided emergency aid to the victims.
The three children who died at the scene were aged five, eight and 11, the police chief said. One teacher was also pronounced dead.
Krantz said a seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher, both critically injured, were transported by medics to a local hospital. He added that the shooter was a resident of Bend.
Krantz stressed that the investigation was in its early stages, but told the press conference that it appeared “the shooter had forced their way into the school by shooting at locked doors”.
Between 400 and 450 children attend Silver Rail Elementary School, where more than 40 staff members work, a police spokesperson had said earlier.
After a lockdown, Bend-La Pine School District said law enforcement officers were escorting students on buses to a separate location, where families could reunite with their children.
The district’s superintendent, Steve Cook, tearfully called the day’s events “an unthinkable tragedy”.