PALERMO, Calif. – 9:36 P.M. UPDATE – The Butte County Sheriff’s Office has provided more information into Wednesday’s shooting at a local school that sent two children to the hospital and resulted in the death of the shooter at the campus.
In a press conference held Wednesday evening, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea gave a full rundown of the events that transpired on Wednesday afternoon at the Feather River School of the Seventh-Day Adventist in Palermo.
Authorities say that at approximately 1:08 p.m., CHP dispatch began receiving 9-1-1 calls of an active shooter on campus at the Feather River School of the Seventh-Day Adventists located on Cox Lane near Highway 70.
CHP dispatch transferred the call over to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office at 1:09 p.m. and dispatched their officers to the school.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office, after having the call transferred to them, dispatched deputies to the school as well.
The first officer on scene was from the California Highway Patrol. Authorities say that the CHP officer arrived at the campus as 1:10 p.m., two minutes after the 9-1-1 calls came in.
Honea says that the CHP officer was directed by staff and students to an area where an adult male was found deceased on the ground. According to Honea, it appears that the adult male had a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The CHP officer located a handgun near the body and secured the firearm.
Deputies from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office arrived around 1:14 p.m., six minutes after the first 9-1-1 calls came in for the shooting.
Authorities say that law enforcement began to render medical aid to two male kindergarten students, aged 5 and 6, who had been shot and started their search of the campus to make sure there were no other threats.
Honea says that both students were transported to local hospitals and are currently in extremely-critical condition as of Wednesday night.
Once law enforcement had finished searching and secured the campus, students at the school were moved into the gymnasium for safety.
Authorities say that once the scene was secured and enough law enforcement personnel were present, a school bus was brought to the campus and approximately 35 students were loaded onto the bus to be transported to a reunification center that was set up at the Church of the Nazarene in Oroville where the students would be reunified with their loved ones.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says that they had personnel present at the Church of the Nazarene along with crisis counselors from the Butte County Behavioral Health Department, chaplains from local law enforcement agencies, and representatives from the Church of the Nazarene.
Authorities say that advocates from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office were also present at the site to provide support.
Honea said that the investigation began into the shooting and says that it is a complex investigation.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says that they requested the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) for assistance into the investigation that is underway.
Authorities say that at this time, they believe that they have identified the shooter but they will not be releasing the name at this time as law enforcement is still in the process of interviewing people who may have been associated with the shooter as part of the investigation.
Honea says that authorities are working to reconstruct the activities of the male shooter for Wednesday and into the past to try to find out why he carried out the shooting.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says that they have received information that the shooter made an appointment to come to the school to meet with an administrator. According to authorities, the statement from the shooter to school officials is that he wanted to explore the possibility of enrolling a family member as a student at the school.
Authorities say that the shooter meet with an administrator of the school and that the meeting was cordial, there was nothing about the meeting that gave rise to concerns by the administrator.
Honea says that the Butte County Sheriff’s Office is trying to determine the voracity of the statement from the shooter as to whether or not he was actually there to enroll or talk about enrolling a student or if it was a ruse to get onto the campus.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says that after the conclusion of the meeting between the school administrator and the suspect, the shooting occurred, with the shooter subsequently taking their own life.
According to Honea, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office has received information that leads authorities to believe that the shooter targeted the school because of its affiliation to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
At this time, Honea says that they believe that this is an isolated incident and that out of an abundance of caution, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office has sent out an alert to law enforcement agencies across the state of California to advise them of this shooting incident and to advise them that the shooter targeted the school due to its affiliation to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
Honea says that the request was for other law enforcement agencies to be vigilant so that other schools associated with the church are safe.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says that they are in contact with leaders from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church as well as the portion of the church that oversees schools so that they are aware of the incident.
Honea also noted that it was still very early on in the investigation into the shooting.
According to Honea, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office has identified the individual who dropped off the shooter at the school on Wednesday.
Honea says that it was a Uber driver in a gray four-door sedan who provided a ride for the shooter to the school, and detectives with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office are interviewing the driver to determine exactly what was said or what transpired in that ride.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says that is all the information that they can provide at this time, and that at this point, they are no longer looking for that grey four-door sedan, since they believe that they have the vehicle and individual who drove the vehicle.
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The Butte County Sheriff says two students were wounded in a shooting at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo.
According to the sheriff, the two students sustained gunshot wounds and have been transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey told Action News Now that the two students who were shot were kindergarten boys.
Around 1 p.m., the sheriff’s office received calls from the school reporting that a man had fired shots at students. When Butte County deputies arrived on the scene, they found the suspect with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The suspected shooter is dead and has been identified as an adult male.
In the wake of the shooting, students are being relocated to the Oroville Church of the Nazarene at 2238 Monte Vista Avenue, where parents can go to reunite with their children.
As a result of the ongoing police activity, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has issued a traffic alert. Northbound traffic on Highway 70 is closed at E Gridley Road, with vehicles being diverted west to Highway 99. Southbound traffic is also closed at Power House Hill Road, with drivers redirected east to Lone Tree Road. The CHP advises motorists to seek alternate routes, as the closure is expected to last at least an hour.
The Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists is a private, K-8 school in Palermo — home to about 5,500 people and about 65 miles north of Sacramento.
Assemblyman James Gallagher issued the following statement in response to today’s shooting at the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville:
“My heart is breaking for everyone impacted by this tragedy. We will never understand why or how someone could do a thing like this. I am grateful for the bravery of the law enforcement, fire and medical personnel who responded to this attack to stop the shooter and rescue the victims. 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.”
This is a developing story. Action News Now will keep you updated with new information on-air and online.
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