United States: four dead and two injured after shooting at Oregon elementary school

Four people, including three children, were killed Thursday in shootings at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, in the western United States, CNN and CBS channels said, citing police sources.

“Among the victims at the scene were three children, aged five, eight and eleven, as well as a teacher,” explained Mike Krantz, the police chief of Bend, the city where the tragedy took place. A seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were also injured in the shooting, he added. They were taken to hospital with “critical injuries.”

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The alleged shooter was a 16-year-old teenager who lives in this town of just over 100,000 inhabitants, according to the first elements of the investigation. His identity has not been revealed. He was shot dead by an armed passerby who saw him “enter the school” and “pursued him inside,” according to Mr. Krantz.

The shooting was reported to police around 1 p.m. local time, and officers arrived two minutes later, according to the spokeswoman. More than 400 children attend the “Silver Rail” primary school, where the gunman burst in, according to local media. The establishment is being evacuated, according to police.

“Condolences”

The area's school principal, Steven Cook, offered his condolences to the local community. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by this senseless tragedy,” he wrote in a statement. “We send our deepest condolences to the families and all those affected by this act of violence. No words can adequately express the grief our community is feeling.”

Gun violence is part of everyday life in the United States, a country with more guns in circulation than people and the highest gun death rate of any developed country. School killings regularly shock the country. In 2022, a killing in a primary school in Uvalde sparked outrage, leaving 21 dead, including 19 children. Including universities, the deadliest school shooting in US history remains that of Virginia Tech in 2007, when South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and injured 17 others before killing himself.

Shootings are a recurring scourge that successive governments have so far failed to stem, with many Americans remaining very attached to the right to bear arms, enshrined in the Constitution. In 2025, nearly 15,000 people, not counting suicides, were killed by firearms, according to the NGO Gun Violence Archive.

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“Not inevitable”