The Butte County sheriff said that authorities think the shooter may have chosen the California Seventh-day Adventist school where two young boys were seriously hurt because it was connected to a church.
Sheriff Kory L. Honea said the shooting happened at Feather River Adventist School near Palermo around 1 p.m., after the shooter talked to the director about enrolling a student.
The principal heard shots being fired and screams soon after the meeting ended. That’s when they realized the kids had been shot, Honea said.
The five- and six-year-old boys were in “extremely critical condition” at a hospital Wednesday night, Honea said.
“I can tell you that the injuries are very, very serious,” he stated.
He said that when police arrived, the shooter was dead from what looked like a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was also found next to him.
The shooter and what drove him were still being looked into.
“We have received some 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,” said Honea.
Honea warned that what he called a “complex investigation” was still very new and in its early stages.
Honea said the shooter had nothing to do with the people who died at the school.
Police are looking into whether the meeting about a family member possibly enrolling was real or just a trick to get on campus, he said. He said the meeting was friendly and didn’t bother the boss in any way.
Honea said that Feather River Adventist School has about 35 kids and is a K–8 school. The town is in Butte County, about 60 miles north of Sacramento and south of Oroville. It is close to Palermo.
Honea said that the kids who were shot were in kindergarten.
The other kids at the school were locked up in the gym until buses were sent to take them to a church in Oroville to meet up with their parents.
Students in the sixth grade at the school called KCRA (NBC Sacramento) to say that they heard gunshots.
“I also saw the shooter walk back and forth across a window.” “After that, we ran to the gym,” she told the station. “When I turned around, I saw a shadow with a gun. I told most of the people to run again.”
Even though the killing seems to have happened only at the school, the sheriff’s office said it was telling other police departments just to be safe.
The gunman’s name was not made public Wednesday night. Honea said that the name was kept secret by the police because possible associates were being questioned.
He took an Uber to get to school. Honea said that the driver had been found and was being questioned about what the shooter may have said during the ride.
When asked for a comment Wednesday night, Uber did not answer right away.
Around 1:08 p.m., cell phone 911 calls came to the California Highway Patrol. It and sheriff’s deputies reacted right away, Honea said.
He said that the first person to arrive at the scene was a Highway Patrol officer, who found the shooter dead.
The FBI is pitching in to help with the investigation.
Sid Patel, who is in charge of the FBI office in Sacramento, said at a news conference Wednesday night, “We’re doing a full work-up on the subject to get a better understanding of his motivations, ideologies, and anything else that could help us understand today’s situation and incident.”
Honea said the killing was terrible and sad.
“When you’re talking about little kids like this, who can’t defend themselves, it really does tear at the heart,” he noted.
