Two kindergarten students were wounded in a shooting at a school in northern California on Wednesday afternoon and a male suspect was found dead with what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office received 911 calls around 1:09 p.m. from the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville and responded to the scene “immediately with every available law enforcement officer in Butte County,” the department told CNN. The two wounded students are kindergarten boys aged 5 and 6, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey told CNN affiliate KCRA.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said he does not believe the shooter has a connection to campus or the students, according to KCRA. The suspect was at the school earlier Wednesday, meeting with the principal to discuss the potential enrollment of a student, before gunshots and screams were heard, KCRA reported.
Feather River Adventist School is a K-8 campus, according to its website, and had 33 students enrolled as of 2022.
The two students who were shot were taken to area hospitals for treatment, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson. The department could not provide an update on their condition and has not identified the shooter, the spokesperson said, noting the investigation is in its early stages.
Students were being taken to the nearby Oroville Church of the Nazarene, where parents can reunite with their children, the sheriff’s office said.
The FBI’s Sacramento Field Office is “providing support to aid our partners and the community during this challenging time,” it said in a statement on X.
Butte County is north of Sacramento.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the type of school where the shooting happened. It serves kindergarten through 8th grade.