Two kindergarten students were wounded and a suspected gunman is dead after he opened fire at a small Christian elementary school in northern California, authorities said.
The 5- and 6-year old children were students at Feather River Adventist School in Palermo, Calif., about 65 miles north of Sacramento. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office sent an alert around 2 p.m. after clearing the scene and confirming the suspected gunman was dead.
Police said the suspect did not appear to have a connection to the school, a 33-student K-8 establishment affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. He’d been dropped off by a gray four-door sedan, possibly a rideshare service, to speak with the principal about enrolling a student, authorities told NBC affiliate KCRA, adding that it might have been a pretext.
“Shortly after concluding that meeting, the principal heard shots being fired, heard screams, and that’s when they determined or found that the two students had been shot,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told KCRA.
Honea said the department received a 911 call around 1 p.m. reporting a shooting at the school. Arriving deputies found the suspected shooter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, then encountered the two wounded students in the kindergarten class. Both were taken to the hospital, with one of them airlifted, ABC News reported.
Authorities did not name the suspected gunman or the students.
Students were reunited with their parents at nearby Oroville Church of the Nazarene, the sheriff’s office said.
“Parents are asked to respond to the church to be reunified with their children,” the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said on X. “The suspected shooter is deceased. We will provide additional information once it’s available.”
The FBI was assisting local authorities in the investigation.
“FBI Sacramento Field Office stands with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office and Feather River Adventist School families and employees and are providing support to aid our partners and the community during this challenging time,” the agency said on X.
With News Wire Services
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