Santa Clarita - Just 16 seconds passed
from the time a California high school student pulled a .45
semi-automatic pistol from his backpack in an outdoor school
courtyard and emptied the weapon, killing two classmates and
wounding three more, before shooting himself in the head and
collapsing.
Police investigating the Thursday morning shooting at Saugus
High School in Santa Clarita, about 40 miles (65 km) north of
Los Angeles, said they did not yet know the motive.
The shooter's name was not released by police, who said it
was his 16th birthday. He saved his last bullet for himself, and
was in grave condition at a hospital, authorities said.
Early on Friday, two girls aged 14 and 15 were being treated
at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills,
California and were listed in good and fair condition, a
hospital spokeswoman said.
At the Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita, authorities
said a 14-year-old male was treated and released, and the other
students died.
No names of the wounded or the dead were released early on
Friday, but the two slain students were a 16-year-old girl and a
14-year-old boy.
Captain Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department said surveillance video footage showed the suspect
opening fire from a single stationary position, shooting his
victims in rapid succession before turning the gun on
himself.
Emergency personnel remove an injured person following a shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita. Picture: David Crane/The Orange County Register via AP
The scene at Saugus High School was reminiscent of other
mass shootings at US schools, including Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student
with an assault gun killed 17 people on February 14, 2018.
It was the 85th incident of gunfire at a school this year,
according to Everytown, a gun control advocacy group.
Police said the accused shooter had acted alone.
Investigators descended on his family home, blocking off the
street. They found no further danger there.
A next-door neighbor, registered nurse Jared Axen, said the
suspect had seemed introverted and sad, possibly despondent over
the loss of his father from a heart attack in December 2017.
"I would say he (the boy) was hurting and couldn’t ask for
help," Axen said of the suspect, who was a track athlete at the
school, involved in Boy Scouts and liked the outdoors, going on
hunting trips with his father.
There was no immediate word on where the suspect obtained
the weapon.