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Two young children in kindergarten are in stable condition after being injured in a shooting at their rural school in Northern California. The shooter, who has a criminal history and mental health issues, targeted the boys before being apprehended by authorities.
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 lunch on Wednesday at Feather River Adventist School, intending to quickly return to their classroom.
Instead, shortly afterwards, they were shot and seriously injured by a shooter.
Two young boys, named Roman Mendez, aged 6, and Elias Wolford, aged 5, were quickly taken from their small 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 the situation, stating that it is very difficult to see her brother Roman in the intensive care unit, where he is still unconscious. She described the experience as heartbreaking.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday that the boys’ conditions had improved to "critical but stable," bringing a sense of hope to the rural community located approximately 60 miles north of Sacramento. This community has faced a lot of hardship in recent years, and residents are coming together to organize fundraisers, hold vigils, and raise money to help the victims and their families, as they have done before in this agricultural area.
In the past, people living in this area experienced the devastating Camp fire, resulting in the loss of 85 lives and the destruction of Paradise, a town 20 miles away. Additionally, a year prior to this fire, residents of Oroville had to hastily evacuate their homes due to fears of the nearby Oroville Dam potentially bursting.
During the shooting that occurred on Wednesday, law enforcement officials suspect that the shooter, who was named Glenn Litton and was 56 years old, specifically chose to target the parochial school due to its connection with the Seventh-day Adventists, a Protestant Christian group. Litton ultimately took his own life after the incident.
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