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Community Rallies Together After California School Shooting: Kindergartners in Critical but Stable Condition

In Citizen
January 18, 2025

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Two young children are in stable condition after being shot at their school in Northern California. The gunman, who has a history of criminal activity and mental health issues, targeted the boys on the school campus. Both victims were quickly taken to hospitals for treatment.

Written by Soumya Karlamangla and Orlando Mayorquín

Soumya Karlamangla provided coverage from San Francisco, while Orlando Mayorquín reported from Oroville, California.

Two young children in kindergarten were walking to the bathroom during lunchtime on Wednesday at Feather River Adventist School. It was meant to be a quick trip before they returned to their classroom.

Instead, not long after, they were shot and seriously injured by someone with a gun.

Two young boys, Roman Mendez, aged 6, and Elias Wolford, aged 5, were quickly taken from their school near Oroville, California. One was transported by ambulance and the other by helicopter, both being rushed to hospitals urgently.

Vanessa Diaz expressed her distress over her brother Roman’s condition in the intensive care unit, where he is currently unconscious. She described the situation as extremely heartbreaking.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office revealed on Thursday that the boys’ condition has improved to "critical but stable," bringing some hope to the rural community located about 60 miles north of Sacramento. This community has faced a lot of difficulties in recent years, but residents have been coming together to organize fundraisers, hold vigils, and gather money to help the victims and their families, just like they have done before in this agricultural area.

In the past, the people living in this area experienced the devastating Camp fire, which resulted in the loss of 85 lives and the destruction of the town of Paradise. Additionally, just a year before the fire, residents of Oroville had to quickly evacuate due to fears of the Oroville Dam potentially collapsing.

During the shooting on Wednesday, investigators think the shooter, named Glenn Litton, 56, chose to attack the parochial school because it was associated with the Seventh-day Adventists, a Protestant Christian group. Litton later took his own life.

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