Active shooter reported at Oregon elementary school
Developing story first seen 2 hours ago
Police responded to reports of an active shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, and asked the public to avoid the area. The school was placed on lockdown as officers worked at the scene; the article did not confirm whether anyone had been injured or killed.
Authorities set up a family reunification site at nearby Journey Church, while paramedics established a staging area outside the school. At least one class was reported to have been released, and US Senator Jeff Merkley said his team was monitoring the situation and expressed support for affected students and families.
- Police responded to reports of a shooter at a Bend elementary school.
- Silver Rail Elementary was placed on lockdown.
- Injuries had not been confirmed in the report.
New here? Start with this
Bend is a city in central Oregon, in the north-western United States. Silver Rail Elementary is a local primary school, where pupils are generally aged around five to eleven.
When police respond to a possible shooting at a school, they may ask people to stay away while officers check the site and make it safe. A lockdown keeps pupils and staff inside or in secure areas; a reunification site gives families a place to meet children if the school is evacuated.
Police and emergency medical teams coordinate the response, while school staff help account for pupils. Jeff Merkley is one of Oregon’s two US senators; his role is to represent the state in the national legislature.
Full account
Police responded to reports of a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, shortly before 1pm on Thursday. The two reports say children were among multiple people shot, but neither gives a confirmed number of victims or details of their conditions.
According to the accounts, Bend police received an initial call at 12.59pm and issued an alert for officers to respond to a critical incident at 1pm. Officers arrived at about 1.02pm. Both reports say the suspected gunman was shot and killed soon afterwards, although they do not establish who fired the fatal shot. Police were reported to believe that one person carried out the attack.
At least two people were taken to a local hospital, the reports say. The school was placed under lockdown, and police asked the public to avoid the area. A reunification point for families was set up at nearby Journey Church. Local reporting cited in both accounts indicated that at least one class had been released, but neither account established when the lockdown would end.
Senator Jeff Merkley said his team was monitoring developments and expressed concern for the pupils and families affected. The accounts leave several central questions unresolved, including the number and condition of those shot, the sequence of events inside the school and the identity of the person who shot the suspect.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 says the first call concerned shots fired into a vehicle near the school and that police received further emergency calls from inside. Source 2 describes the initial report more generally as shots fired at the school.
Source 2 attributes to a Bend police spokesperson, via NBC News, the statement that the suspect had been inside the school. Source 1 does not include that detail.
Both accounts raise the possibility that a bystander shot the suspect, but neither establishes it. Source 2 also describes the suspect as a lone attacker.