Three children, one teacher killed in Oregon elementary school shooting

Three children and one teacher were shot dead at an elementary school Thursday in the northwestern 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, police chief of Bend, told journalists that the department first learned of an active shooter after a call from a person who reported being shot at multiple times by a person carrying a long gun.

Dozens of emergency calls then reported that a shooter had entered the school and all law enforcement in the area were called to the scene, Krantz said.

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Officers arrived at 1:02 pm local time (2002 GMT) within minutes of the calls, said the police chief.

"Moments later, an officer reported that the suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him," Krantz continued. "Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead."

Officers performed emergency aid on the victims. The three children who died on the scene were aged five, eight and 11, the police chief said. One teacher was also pronounced dead.

Krantz said one seven-year-old and one 54-year-old teacher with critical injuries 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 it appeared "the shooter had forced their way into the school by shooting at locked doors."

The district's superintendent, Steve Cook, tearfully called the day's events "an unthinkable tragedy." "We are heartbroken. We are horrified. This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places, and pray that it never happens here," he told reporters.