Miller said authorities received a call about a shot fired into a car outside Silver Rail Elementary at 12:59 p.m. and arrived on scene within minutes.

A 16-year-old shooter opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, October 15, killing four people, including three children, before an armed citizen who had followed the shooter into the school killed the attacker, police said, according to Reuters. The dead are children aged 5, 8 and 11, and one teacher. A 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher are in hospital with critical injuries. Police said the shooter got into the school by firing through locked doors, and they have given no other details about the shooter beyond the age. Earlier, The Associated Press (AP) cited two law enforcement officials who said at least five people had died and that the number could change.

Police got a call around 1 pm that an unknown man had shot into a car outside the school, Reuters said. Moments later, dispatchers got several calls saying a person had entered the school and started shooting.

Officers arrived within three minutes and found that the shooter had been shot dead. Bend police spokesperson Sheila Miller told AP the school went into lockdown, and officers went from room to room to bring people out.

Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said the attacker was shot and fell inside the school soon after officers arrived. She told reporters that police did not yet know if the shot came from an officer, a bystander or the attacker, according to AP and Reuters.

Miller said officers went from room to room to bring people out of the school. The Bend-La Pine school district said the school had been placed under lockdown.

How many people died

The death toll is still unclear, and the two accounts differ. AP’s sources said at least five people were dead, and both asked not to be named because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case. Reuters, citing CNN and CBS News, put the number of dead at four.

Miller said police had no firm number of victims at that stage, but knew that children were among them. A later police statement said there were several victims and that at least two had been taken to hospital, Reuters said.

Silver Rail Elementary School teaches kindergarten through fifth grade. Miller said it has about 450 students and 40 staff members. Bend is a city of about 100,000 people in the high desert of central Oregon, more than 100 miles southeast of Portland.

Miller paused to steady herself as she spoke to reporters. She said Bend never wanted to see this and called it devastating, according to AP.

 School buses are lined up outside Silver Rail Elementary School, where a shooting took place. (Photo: AP)

Governor Tina Kotek asked people to come together and support each other, Reuters said. US Representative Maxine Dexter, who represents part of Portland, called it a “devastating day for Oregon” and said lawmakers must do more to keep children safe.

FBI director Kash Patel said on X that federal agents were at the scene helping local police with the investigation, and that the agency would make every resource available.