Three Children and One Adult Killed in Shooting at Bend, Oregon Elementary School, Sources Say

Updated 01:04 UTC. Police Chief Mike Krantz confirmed the toll on the record at an evening press conference. Officers found five people dead at the school, including the shooter. The children killed were 5, 8 and 11 years old, and the adult killed was a teacher. A 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to St. Charles Medical Center with critical injuries.

Krantz said the suspect was a 16-year-old Bend resident who used a long gun and is believed to have forced his way in by shooting at locked doors. Sky News and KPTV reported that Krantz said a member of the public who followed the suspect into the school shot and killed him. Mayor Melanie Kebler announced a community vigil, Sky News reported.

Updated 23:21 UTC. This is a developing story.

Update: Law enforcement sources told CNN and CBS News that the shooter was a 16-year-old male. Police have not publicly named him and have not confirmed his age on the record. Officers also have not confirmed who shot him. Police said earlier that it may have been a bystander, and that account remains unconfirmed.

Updated 23:28 UTC. A law enforcement source told USA Today that a bystander killed the shooter, and the New York Post, citing law enforcement sources, also reported that a bystander shot the 16-year-old dead. Police have not confirmed that account in public. Spokesperson Sheila Miller said officers did not yet know who shot the suspect and that it may have been a bystander. CNN reported that the shooter had already been shot and killed inside the school when officers arrived at about 1 p.m.

Three children and one adult were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, according to law enforcement sources cited by CBS News and CNN. The suspected shooter is also dead. Bend police had not publicly confirmed the death toll at their afternoon briefing, and they said the total number of victims was still being confirmed.

Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said children were among the victims and that at least two people were taken to St. Charles Medical Center. Their conditions were not known. Police said there was one shooter, and that the shooter went down inside the school soon after officers arrived.

Three minutes from first call to officers on scene

Dispatchers took a call at 12:59 p.m. local time about a shot fired into a car near the school, Miller said. At 1 p.m. the department sent an alert for all officers to respond to a critical incident, and officers were on scene by 1:02 p.m. More 911 calls came in during those two minutes reporting an active shooter inside the school.

Seconds after officers arrived, word came that the suspect was down. Miller said police do not yet know who shot the suspect, and that it may have been a bystander. That account has not been confirmed. Officers then moved room by room through the building, evacuating students and staff.

Hundreds of officers and other responders from across central Oregon went to the school. Police told people to stay away from the area while they secured the campus.

Families sent to a church to reunite

The Bend-La Pine school district set up a reunification point for families at Journey Church, at 61303 South Highway 97. Students were taken there to meet their parents. The district said its schools will be closed for the rest of the week, with activities and athletic events canceled.

Silver Rail Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade. Miller said the school has about 400 to 450 students and more than 40 staff members. State records put enrollment at 459 students last year. Police said they did not yet know how many people were inside when the shooting started.

Superintendent Steven Cook said the district was stunned and heartbroken, and that its first job was caring for students and staff while helping police and emergency responders. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said she was monitoring the situation and thanked first responders. FBI Director Kash Patel said FBI agents from Portland were at the scene and helping with the investigation.

What is not known yet

Police have not publicly named the shooter or given a motive. The chief later confirmed on the record that the suspect was 16 and used a long gun, and he confirmed the ages of the children killed. No names have been released. The report that three children and one adult were killed comes from law enforcement sources speaking to national outlets, and Reuters reported the same count. Officers said they would share more once families were notified and the count was confirmed.

Bend is a city of about 107,000 people in central Oregon, southeast of Portland, along the Deschutes River. For families in Bend, the questions now are the hardest ones: who was lost, who is still in the hospital, and how a gunman got into an elementary school in the middle of a school day. Police say the investigation is only starting.