PALERMO, Calif. (AP) — Two children were in “extremely critical condition” after being shot at a tiny religious K-8 school in Northern California and the gunman died at the scene, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot, police said.
The gunman may have targeted the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo on Wednesday because of its religious affiliation, but isn’t believed to have had a prior connection to the victims or the school, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. He didn’t explain further.
“Whether or not this is a hate crime or whether or not it’s part of some sort of larger scheme at this point I don’t have enough information to provide an answer to that,” he said.
The wounded children, boys ages 5 and 6, are kindergartners at the school and were being treated at a trauma center in the Sacramento area, officials said.
“I am thankful that they’re still alive, but they’ve got a long road ahead of them,” Honea said.
The shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at the private Christian school with fewer than three dozen students in Palermo, which has about 5,500 people and is about 65 miles (104 kilometers) north of Sacramento.
It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms.
But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws. Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.
Honea said the gunman was dropped off by an Uber driver who is being interviewed by detectives.
He said the shooter was in a meeting with an administrator about enrolling a child at the school, which he described as “cordial.” But it seems that was his first visit to the school and he had no prior connection to the victims. Shortly after that, shots rang out, Honea said.
The gunman’s body was found near the slide and other playground equipment on the grounds of the school, which abuts ranchland where cattle graze. A handgun was found nearby, Honea said.
Honea said they were trying to contact the shooter’s family before releasing his name.
Laurie Trujillo, a spokesperson for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, said in a statement that they were “deeply saddened by the events that occurred today at our Feather River school.” She added that they are grateful to the sheriff’s office for acting quickly to protect the students.
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination in which members consider the Bible their only creed and believe that the second coming of Christ is near. The Feather River School has been open since 1965, according to its website.
After the shooting, authorities rushed students initially to a gymnasium where they stayed until a bus arrived to take them off the grounds and to the Oroville Church of the Nazarene to be reunited with their families, Honea said.
Travis Marshall, the senior pastor for the Oroville Church of the Nazarene, called the reunification between parents and their children “very moving.”
“Some of the children were incredibly emotional,” he said. “One woman was raising her hands up, praising the Lord” when she found her child.
Sixth grader Jocelyn Orlando described what happened to CBS News Sacramento.
“We were going in for lunch recess and basically everybody in my classroom heard shooting and most people were screaming,” she said. “We all went into the office, we closed the curtains, locked the doors, basically did what we would do in a school shooting, and then one of the teachers came and we all ran into the gym.”
Assemblyman James Gallagher, whose area includes Palermo, said his “heart is breaking for everyone impacted by this tragedy.”
“As a community, we’ll all be hugging our loved ones closer today as we pray for the victims and try to make sense of something so senseless,” he said in a statement.
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