2 kindergarteners in ‘critical but stable condition’ after Christian school shooting

(LOS ANGELES) — Two kindergarteners — a 5-year-old boy and a 6-year-old boy — are in “critical but stable condition” on Thursday after they were shot a day earlier at their small Christian grammar school in Northern California, authorities said.

The suspected gunman died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after entering the school and opening fire on the students Wednesday, according to Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

Butte County authorities responded to reports of an active shooter at the Feather River Adventist School near Oroville shortly after 1 p.m., Honea said. A California Highway Patrol trooper was the first to arrive on the scene and found the two wounded students and the suspect’s body with a handgun nearby.

The suspected shooter had met with a school administrator earlier in the day to discuss enrolling a student at the school, which teaches kindergarten to 8th grade and has a total of 35 students, according to Honea.

It’s unclear if the meeting was legitimate or a ruse for the suspected gunman to get inside, the sheriff said.

The meeting was described as “cordial” and did not set off any alarm bells with the school administrator, the sheriff said.

A few minutes after that meeting, the shots rang out, he said.

The suspect has been identified and authorities are working to find a motive, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff said that he may have targeted the school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we sent an alert out to law enforcement agencies throughout the state of California, advising them of this shooting and advising them that the subject may have targeted this school because of its affiliation with that particular religious organization,” Honea said.

“Our request of those law enforcement agencies was to be vigilant and make sure that those schools are safe and the students are still safe,” he added.

The suspect was dropped off at the school by an Uber driver who has since been interviewed by police, authorities said.

“We’re working to essentially reconstruct this individual’s activities over the course of today as well as into the past to determine why … he did the things that he did,” Honea said.

The FBI is helping to process the scene and dig into the suspect’s background.

Butte County is located about 65 miles north of Sacramento.