Gunman Shoots 2 Kindergartners at Rural Christian School in Targeted Attack

A gunman shot two kindergarten students, ages 5 and 6, at a small parochial school in rural California on Wednesday afternoon and then died from what the authorities believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a spokesman for the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said.

The authorities believe that the gunman targeted the school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventists, a Protestant Christian denomination. The two students, both boys, are in “extremely critical condition” and are being treated for “very, very serious injuries” at a trauma center in the Sacramento area, Kory L. Honea, the sheriff of Butte County, said at a news conference Wednesday night.

At around 1:10 p.m., the authorities responded to the school, Feather River Adventist, in Oroville, Calif., about 60 miles north of Sacramento, after receiving 911 calls of an active shooter, said Megan McMann, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Preliminary reports suggested that the gunman “came on to campus to meet with the principal to discuss the possibility of enrolling” a family member as a student in a meeting that was previously scheduled, Sheriff Honea said. The meeting was “cordial,” but Sheriff Honea said investigators were still trying to better understand whether or not that meeting was a “ruse” by the gunman so he could get onto the school grounds.

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