A teenager kills three children and a teacher at an elementary school in Oregon (USA)

BarcelonaA 16-year-old teenager has killed three children and a teacher in a shooting at an elementary school in Bend, in the state of Oregon (United States), before a pedestrian who was armed ended up killing him as well, according to what the police have explained.

The attacker entered the school around one o'clock in the afternoon this Thursday, shooting at the locked doors. The police received several calls warning that a person had entered Silver Rail school and had started shooting. The first emergency call was at 12:59 p.m. from a person who was driving and said they had been shot at several times by a person carrying a long gun, according to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz.

The first officers arrived at the school two minutes later, but when they entered, they already found a teacher and three students, aged 5, 8, and 11, dead. In addition, there is another 7-year-old child and another teacher hospitalized with serious injuries.

Before the police arrived at the school, a man who was on the street and was armed pursued the attacker, confronted him inside the center, and shot him dead. In a press conference, the Governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, described him as a hero and addressed him directly: "Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden (...). I just want you to know that my thoughts are also with you".

The officers confirmed that the attacker was dead and went class by class to help evacuate students and teachers. This Friday, classes and school activities have been suspended in the Bend district.

Gun ownership laws

A neighbor of the school explained to the New York Times that she was walking her dog approximately a kilometer away from the school when she heard three shots, followed by a pause and three more shots. "In the United States we live with events like this; it is exhausting," she lamented.

School shootings are not exceptional in the United States, and this new case will likely reignite the debate over restrictions on gun ownership. Oregon has more restrictions than most states: Everytown, a gun safety advocacy organization, ranks the state twelfth out of 50 in terms of the severity of its gun laws. However, it lacks some of the most restrictive measures, such as a ban on certain types of assault or military-style weapons, as is the case in California and New York.