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Two young children in kindergarten are in stable condition after being injured in a school shooting in Northern California. The shooter, who has a criminal record and mental health issues, targeted the victims on the rural school campus.
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, with the intention of quickly going back to their classroom.
Instead, shortly afterwards, they were injured by a gunman who shot them.
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 urgently heading to hospitals without delay.
Vanessa Diaz expressed her distress while visiting her brother, Roman, in the ICU, where he is still unconscious. She described the situation as heartbreaking.
The boys were in better condition on Thursday, described as "critical but stable" by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. This brought some hope to the rural community located about 60 miles north of Sacramento, which has experienced a lot of sadness in recent years. Residents were coming together to organize fundraisers, vigils, and raise money to help the victims and their families, similar to how they had supported others in need in the past in this farming area.
In the past six years, the people living in this area experienced the devastating Camp fire, which resulted in the loss of 85 lives and the destruction of Paradise, located approximately 20 miles away. Additionally, a year prior to the fire, residents in Oroville had to quickly evacuate their homes, fearing that the Oroville Dam would overflow and cause a disaster.
During the shooting that took place on Wednesday, authorities suspect that the shooter, named Glenn Litton, 56, 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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