School Shooting in California Puts Two Kindergarteners in the Hospital

The shooting happened at a small K-8 religious school in northern California in the town of Palermo. The gunman arrived in an Uber and had a meeting with the school’s principal, claiming he wanted to enroll a relative. Apparently, the shooter planned this meeting in advance:

Honea also added that investigators are looking into a “story” that the suspect called a few days ago to schedule an appointment at the school with an administrator on Wednesday. The reports indicate the suspect then showed up trying to enroll a child but deputies don’t believe a child was with him. 

Moments after the meeting broke up, the shooter attempted to kill two children. Incredibly, both are still alive but in “extremely critical” condition.

Two children were in “extremely critical condition” Wednesday after being shot at a tiny religious K-8 school in Northern California and the gunman died at the scene, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot, police said.

The gunman may have targeted the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo because of its religious affiliation, but isn’t believed to have had a prior connection to the victims or the school, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. He didn’t explain further.

“Whether or not this is a hate crime or whether or not it’s part of some sort of larger scheme at this point I don’t have enough information to provide an answer to that,” he said.

After shooting two children, the gunman killed himself before police arrived. They found him face down in the playground [warning: graphic video]

WARNING: News video NOT EDITED & shows school shooters body at Feather River School.

Ok @NBCNightlyNews Creepy to show the deceased school shooters body near a playground- without blurring that image! #Palermo #California #NBC #NBCNightlyNews #LesterHolt pic.twitter.com/dW8YSxZ89f

— Always dreamin’ … (@MsAJF) December 4, 2024

The gunman hasn’t been named yet because police are trying to locate his family, but they do believe they know his identity. Meanwhile, the family of one of the victims has spoken up.

One of the victims is 6-year-old Roman Mendez. Roman’s sister told Action News Now he’s being treated at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. She said Roman had injuries to his chest and back. The doctors told the family he had four wounds, but the family isn’t certain if some of those were exit wounds.

The sister said his surgeries have been successful, but he faces a long and challenging recovery. Roman’s twin brother is also a student at Feather River Adventist School and witnessed the shooting.

The story includes a photo of Roman’s hand in a hospital bed.

6-year-old Roman Mendez in critical condition after school shooting in Palermo via ActionNewsNow BCSheriff says school was targeted due to its 7th Adventist affiliation. https://t.co/MFhVqqvTuT

— d. swanson (@zodee14) December 5, 2024

The other victim is age five and hasn’t been identified. There are many things I’ll never understand in this world but very high on that list is what motivates someone to try to murder children before killing themselves. Again, there’s no evidence yet that the shooter had any connection to these kids. The were apparently targeted at random. All we know at this point is that he might have had some kind of religious motive targeting Seventh Day Adventists but even that isn’t certain.

I’ll update below once more information is released. Until then, here is the full press statement given by Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.