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Two students were injured in a school shooting in northern California, officials said on Wednesday afternoon, and the suspected shooter is dead. The injured students are five and six years old, according to KCRA, Sacramento’s NBC affiliate station. The students are being treated for the injuries, Butte county sheriff, Kory Honea told reporters on Wednesday.
The shooting took place at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Oroville, a city of 20,000 people in the state’s far north. Honea told media that around 1pm his office began receiving calls from the school about an individual on campus firing shots at students. Deputies responded immediately, Honea said, and found a man on scene dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot.
The two injured students were taken to the hospital – one was transported via helicopter. The sheriff said officials have made a “potential identification” of the shooter, and that it did not immediately appear that he was connected to the school, which has been open since 1965 and serves about 35 students.
Authorities are still early in their investigation, Honea said, and much remains unknown. The office plans to consult with the FBI.
The shooter came to campus to discuss enrolling a student in the school, according to KCRA reporter Lysée Mitri. Gunfire and screams rang out after that meeting. Investigators hinted at the possibility of the shooter arriving on the campus via a ride-share service and that they may have targeted the school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventist church.
Buses arrived to the school on Wednesday afternoon to transport students and reunite them with their parents. Chaplains and crisis counselors would be available to help those affected, Honea said.
Oroville was the site of a high-profile shooting in 2022 when a man opened fire on a Greyhound bus bound for Los Angeles, killing one person, a 43-year old traveling with her two children, and injuring four others, including a pregnant woman.
The region has found itself in the national spotlight repeatedly in recent years, largely because of highly destructive and often deadly wildfires, including the 2018 Camp fire that killed 85 people, which Honea gestured to in his remarks to reporters outside the Feather River School.
“This is another tragedy that has been visited upon our community,” he said. “I hope people can appreciate how tough this is for the students of this school, the faculty of the school, the members of this community, all the first responders.”
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