4 dead, including children, in Oregon school shooting, US reports say

At least two people were hospitalised Thursday following a shooting at a junior school in Bend, Oregon, and the attacker was shot and killed, authorities said.

“We don’t have a number at this point. We know children are among the victims,” Bend police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said during a media briefing.

Authorities received a call about a shot fired into a car outside Silver Rail Elementary at 12.59pm and arrived on scene within minutes. Further emergency calls came from inside the school, she said.

The suspect was shot shortly after, though Miller said she did not know if it was by police or a bystander. The shooter went down inside the school soon after police arrived, she said.

The conditions of those injured were not immediately known.

Spokesmen for the city and police department did not immediately return emails seeking comment.

Silver Rail Elementary was under lockdown, the Bend-La Pine school district wrote on social media.

“We’re in the process at this time of going room by room and evacuating each of the people who are in that school … This is the kind of thing we never want to see happen in Bend. It’s devastating,” Miller said, pausing to control her emotions.

The school in Bend, Oregon, which is more than 160km (100 miles) southeast of Portland, had 459 enrolled students as of last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education.

The school serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade.