A 16-year-old boy has shot dead three schoolchildren and a teacher at an elementary school in Oregon, United States, before an armed bystander pursued and killed him inside the building.

The shooting occurred on Thursday afternoon at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, leaving another child and a teacher critically injured, according to local police.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said the children killed at the scene were aged five, eight and 11. The injured seven-year-old child and 54-year-old teacher were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The suspect, who was identified as a 16-year-old resident of Bend, was later confirmed dead after the armed bystander confronted him inside the school.

“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 told reporters.

“Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead.”

The police chief said the investigation was still in its early stages but indicated that the teenager appeared to have forced his way into the school by shooting at locked doors.

Students evacuated as parents wait anxiously

Police officers rushed to the school shortly after receiving reports of a shooting on campus at about 1:02 pm local time.

According to Krantz, the first report came from a person who said they had been shot at several times by someone carrying a long gun. More emergency calls followed, reporting that the shooter had entered the school.

Following a lockdown, the Bend-La Pine School District arranged for students to be transported by bus to another location, where their families could reunite with them.

The district cancelled classes on Friday, along with school activities and sporting events.

Superintendent Steve Cook described the incident as 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 said tearfully.

Parents gathered near a church as they waited to confirm their children’s safety.

Community mourns victims amid renewed gun control calls

Residents gathered at Drake Park in Bend on Thursday evening for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims.

One attendee, identified only as Betsy, described feeling shocked, frightened and saddened by the attack.

“It’s awful, but it also has brought people together,” she told AFP.

The shooting has renewed calls for stronger gun control measures in the United States, where firearms-related violence remains a major public concern.

Gun safety organisation GIFFORDS expressed sympathy for the victims and their families in a post on X.

“Our hearts are with the terrified children and the families anxiously waiting to hear that their loved ones are safe,” the organisation said, adding, “We cannot keep accepting this as a fact of life.”

Oregon Congresswoman Janelle Bynum also condemned the violence, saying: “They’re killing our babies. Shredding our kids with lead. Forcing us to live in fear.”

Speaking later on CNN, she added: “This continues to happen. And it seems as if the adults don’t care.”

The Gun Violence Archive reportedly recorded more than 360 mass shootings in the US so far that year, defining a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot.

The latest attack adds to the country’s long history of school shootings and renewed debate over access to firearms. One of the deadliest school shootings in US history occurred at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.