USA

Four Killed in Oregon Elementary School Shooting, Including Three Children

16 October 2026 13:10 PM

NEWS DESK

Three children and a teacher were killed in a shooting at an elementary school in the US state of Oregon on Thursday. The 16-year-old suspected gunman also died, police said.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told reporters that the three children killed in the attack were aged five, eight and 11. The fourth victim was a teacher at the school.

Police identified the suspected shooter as a 16-year-old boy from Bend, the city where the shooting took place. He was shot dead, according to authorities.

“We have identified the suspect. He is a 16-year-old resident of Bend,” Krantz said.

He added that a local resident had seen the suspect entering the school, followed him inside and confronted him.

Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said officers initially responded to reports of gunfire involving a vehicle. Within minutes, they began receiving a series of emergency calls reporting an armed assailant inside the school.

According to NDTV, police received the first call at around 1pm local time. Officers arrived at the scene within minutes of receiving the reports.

Authorities later confirmed that the suspected shooter had died from gunshot wounds. CNN and CBS News also reported the deaths of four people, citing law enforcement officials.

Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend has between 400 and 450 students and more than 40 staff members, according to police.

Following the shooting, the school was closed and security was tightened. Law enforcement officers subsequently transported students by bus to a designated reunification site, where parents were allowed to meet their children.

Parents gathered near a church at the designated location, waiting anxiously for news of their children.

One parent, Drew Sharp, told CBS News that he believed his son was safe. His son is a fifth-grade student at the school.

Sharp said younger students were being brought off the buses first, followed by older students, leaving parents waiting for their children to arrive.

Steven Cook, superintendent of the Bend-La Pine School District, said district officials were shocked and heartbroken by the tragedy. He extended his condolences to the victims’ families and everyone affected by the shooting, adding that the entire community was grieving.

The school district announced that all schools would be closed on Friday. All school activities and sporting events were also cancelled.

Silver Rail Elementary School is located about 270 kilometres southeast of Portland. It serves children from kindergarten through fifth grade.

The United States has a high rate of gun ownership and regularly experiences shootings that claim thousands of lives each year. Among developed countries, the US has one of the highest rates of firearm-related deaths.

The deadliest school shooting in US history occurred on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech University. Seung-Hui Cho, a South Korean student, killed 32 people and injured 17 others before taking his own life.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a group that tracks gun violence in the United States, more than 360 mass shootings have occurred in the country so far this year. The organisation defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Giffords, a gun-control advocacy organisation, expressed its grief over the Oregon shooting in a statement posted on social media platform X.

The organisation offered condolences to the children affected by the attack and to families waiting anxiously for confirmation that their children were safe.

In its statement, Giffords said such violence could no longer be accepted as a normal part of life.

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