Two children wounded and gunman dead after shooting at Northern California school

PALERMO, Calif. — Two children were wounded Wednesday in a shooting at a tiny religious K-8 school in Northern California and the shooter died from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot, sheriff’s officials said.

The children were taken to nearby hospitals and their conditions were not immediately known. One was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Officials did not share information about their ages nor genders.

The shooting occurred at about 1 p.m. at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists, a private school in Palermo with fewer than three dozen students. Palermo has about 5,500 people and is about 65 miles (104 km) north of Sacramento.

It was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms.

But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws. Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.

“​​My heart is breaking for everyone impacted by this tragedy,” Assemblyman James Gallagher, whose area includes Palermo, said in a statement. “As a community, we’ll all be hugging our loved ones closer today as we pray for the victims and try to make sense of something so senseless.”

Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said the shooter did not appear to have a connection to the school, and the motive was not immediately known. They were working to identify him.

Near the school’s slide and other playground equipment was the shooter’s body, covered in a blue tarp, as officers stood nearby to secure the scene. The school abuts ranchland where cattle graze.

Honea said 911 calls reported “an individual on campus who had fired shots at students.” When deputies arrived they found the gunman on the ground, dead after apparently shooting himself, Honea said.

Authorities rushed students off the grounds and to the Oroville Church of the Nazarene to be reunited with their families, the sheriff’s office said.

Representatives for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists could not immediately be reached for comment.

The school has been open since 1965, according to its website.