Authorities believe a gunman may have targeted the California Seventh-day Adventist school where two young boys were critically wounded in a shooting Wednesday because of its church affiliation, the Butte County sheriff said.
The shooting took place around 1 p.m. on the campus of Feather River Adventist School near Palermo, after the gunman had met with the principal about enrolling a student, Sheriff Kory L. Honea said.
“Shortly after concluding that meeting, the principal heard shots being fired, heard screams, and that’s when they determined or found that the students had been shot,” Honea said.
The two students, boys ages 5 and 6, were in “extremely critical condition” at a hospital Wednesday night, Honea said, describing the injuries as “very, very serious.”
In an update Thursday, the sheriff’s office said the children are in “critical but stable condition” and continue to receive treatment at a hospital.
The shooter was dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound when law enforcement arrived, and a handgun was found next to him, he said.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday the suspect has been positively identified, and authorities are “diligently working to establish the motive.”
The sheriff’s office will host a news conference on the shooting at 3 p.m. local time Thursday (6 p.m. ET).
Honea said Wednesday the sheriff’s office received information “that leads us to believe that the subject responsible for the shooting targeted this school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” Honea said.
Feather River Adventist School in Butte County, Calif.Google Maps
The shooter has no connection between the victims of the school, Honea said.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the meeting about possible enrollment of a family member was real or just a ruse to get onto campus, he said. The meeting was cordial, with nothing that concerned the administrator, he said.
Feather River Adventist School is a K-8 school with about 35 students, Honea said. It is in Butte County, south of Oroville and near Palermo, around 60 miles north of Sacramento.
The children who were shot are kindergarten students, Honea said.
The other children at the school were sequestered in a gymnasium until authorities organized buses to reunite them with their parents at a church in Oroville.
Joselyn, a sixth grader at the school, told NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento that she heard the gunshots.
“I also saw the shooter go across a window, like pacing back and forth. And then we were running to the gym,” she told the station. “I looked back and I saw a shadow with a gun, so I told most people to run even faster.”
The shooting is believed to be isolated to the school, but the sheriff’s office said it notified other law enforcement agencies out of an abundance of caution.
Authorities did not reveal the gunman’s identity Wednesday. Honea said the name was being withheld because possible associates were being interviewed.
He arrived at the school in an Uber ride. The driver has been identified and was being interviewed about what the shooter may have said during the ride, Honea said.
Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
Cellphone 911 calls came into the California Highway Patrol around 1:08 p.m., and it immediately responded along with sheriff’s deputies, Honea said.
A Highway Patrol officer was the first on the scene and found the gunman deceased, he said.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
“We’re doing an entire work-up of the subject, to get a better understanding of his motivation, ideology — what else could help understand today’s situation and incident,” Sid Patel, special agent in charge of the FBI office in Sacramento, said at a news conference Wednesday night.
Honea called the shooting horrible and tragic.
“When you’re talking about little kids like this, who can’t defend themselves, it really does tear at the heart,” he said.
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