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Two young children in kindergarten were taken to hospitals in stable condition after being shot at their rural school in Northern California. The suspect, who has a criminal record and mental health issues, carried out the shooting on the school campus.
Authored 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 just a quick trip before they returned to their classroom.
Instead, shortly after, they were shot and severely injured by a shooter.
Two young boys named 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 without delay.
Vanessa Diaz expressed her distress over her brother Roman’s condition in the intensive care unit, as he is still unconscious. She described the situation 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 about 60 miles north of Sacramento. Despite facing various hardships in recent years, residents have been coming together to organize fundraisers, hold vigils, and raise money to support the victims and their families, as they have done in the past in this agricultural region.
In the past, people living in this area experienced the devastating Camp fire, which resulted in the loss of 85 lives and the destruction of Paradise, a town located about 20 miles away. Additionally, just a year before this fire, residents of Oroville had to quickly gather their belongings and evacuate due to fears of a potential disaster at the Oroville Dam.
During the shooting on Wednesday, the authorities suspect that Glenn Litton, a 56-year-old gunman, specifically chose to target the parochial school due to its connection with the Seventh-day Adventists, a Protestant Christian group. Litton later took his own life.
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