‘Multiple victims’ in Oregon elementary school shooting, police say

• An elementary school shooting in Bend, Oregon, left “multiple victims”, with police saying children were among them and several people were taken to hospital.
• Media reported three children and one adult were killed, but police had not confirmed the death toll or the shooter’s identity.
• Families waited at a reunification site as the district cancelled classes, while officials called the attack a “senseless tragedy” and gun safety group GIFFORDS said, “We cannot keep accepting this as a fact of life.”

LOS ANGELES - A shooting at an elementary school in the north-western US state of Oregon on Oct 15 left “multiple victims,” police said, with several media outlets reporting three children and one adult had been killed.

Sheila Miller, a spokesperson at the Bend Police Department, said officers responded to calls of a gunshot fired into a car, and that then multiple emergency calls came within minutes of an active shooter inside the school.

Officers arrived on the scene within minutes of the 1pm local time call and then quickly received word over the radio that “the shooter had been shot and killed”.

Miller said they did not yet know who shot the suspect, and that it may have been a bystander.

In a later statement police confirmed that “children are among the victims,” and added that at least two people were transported to a local hospital.

“Their status at this time is not known.”

Police had scheduled a second briefing for 5.30pm local time.

CNN and CBS News both reported that four people – three children and an adult – were killed, citing law enforcement.

Police had not yet confirmed that information.

CNN said the shooter was a 16-year-old male, a detail police also had yet to confirm.

Miller said between 400 and 450 children attend Silver Rail Elementary, where more than 40 staff work.

After a lockdown Bend-La Pine School District said law enforcement was escorting students in buses to a separate location, where families could reunite with their children.

Parents were anxiously waiting at the site near a church, where parent Drew Sharp told CBS News “I have faith that he’s okay and that he’ll be alright”.

Sharp said his son was a fifth grader, the highest grade in the school, and that children were disembarking from the bus youngest to oldest.

“Which makes sense,” Sharp said, but it’s just more time waiting.”

‘Cannot keep accepting this’

Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook said district officials were “stunned and heartbroken by this senseless tragedy”.

“We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and to everyone affected by this violence. No words can adequately express the grief our community is experiencing.”

Classes on Oct 17 at schools across the district along with activities and athletic events were cancelled, Bend-La Pine said in a statement.

The elementary school is approximately 270km south-east of the city Portland. It serves primary-age students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The United States, where firearms are readily available, is a frequent scene of gun violence, with thousands of people killed every year. It has the highest rate of gun-related deaths among all developed nations.

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

There have been more than 360 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.

“Our hearts are with the terrified children and the families anxiously waiting to hear that their loved ones are safe,” GIFFORDS, a gun safety organisation, said on X.

“We cannot keep accepting this as a fact of life.” AFP