A gunman opened fire at a high school in Santa Clarita, near Los Angeles, Thursday, killing two comrades and wounding three others. “The suspect, a 16-year-old high school student, was arrested and is in the hospital in a serious state.
Shocking scenario but become too sadly banal in the United States : On the very day of his sixteenth birthday, a teenager opened fire in his high school playground north of Los Angeles on Thursday, killing two comrades and injuring three others. try to commit suicide.
The city of Santa Clarita has been supporting the victims’ families since its Twitter account.
Families in our community have suffered unimaginable loss and pain this morning. Our hearts and minds are with the victims, students, staff and families of Saugus High, as well as all those affected by this senseless tragedy. #SaugusStrong
— Santa Clarita City (@santaclarita) November 14, 2019
Ironically, the drama that hit Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, occurred just as the Senate was debating in Washington a possible limitation of firearms, in a country that has experienced in recent years several bloody killings in schools without fundamentally questioning the legislation in this area.
While debating gun control legislation on the Senate floor, Sen. Richard Blumenthal learns of the reported shooting in California.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 14, 2019
"How can we turn the other way? How can we refuse to see that shooting in real time, demanding our attention?" https://t.co/2Zoj0eekfb pic.twitter.com/1ne5ZV3R1O
“I’m horrified to add Saugus to the names of Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook,” as many American institutions mourned by such shootings , said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, “but it’s a reality that affects us all across the country . “
The emergency call was received by the police on Thursday at 07:38, while some students from Saugus High School were already underway and others were continuing to attend.
The police arrived there only two minutes later and found in the courtyard “six people with gunshot wounds. All of them were high school students , “ Captain Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department told a news conference.
The suspect was ID'd as one of the victims who was found in the #SaugusHigh quad. He is a 16-year-old boy whose birthday is today. The weapon used – a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol – had no more bullets left, said Capt. Kent Wegener with @LASDHQ. https://t.co/S0aBKHeSD3 pic.twitter.com/Pof42Xmrpy
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) November 14, 2019
The wounded were immediately cared for and transported to local hospitals. The shooting resulted in two deaths, a 16-year-old high school student and a 14-year-old boy who both succumbed to their injuries after being hospitalized in a “critical state” .
The other three injured children are a boy and two girls aged fourteen to fifteen. One of the victims was able to return home after being treated, the doctors said.
The suspect is a 16-year-old high school student
“It turned out that among the wounded was the suspect, currently hospitalized in a serious condition , “ said Alex Villanueva, adding that he is an “Asian” young man enrolled in high school and living in Santa Clarita.
For over an hour, security forces searched in vain for the surrounding residential area and the nearby high school hills in search of the gunman, who was thought to have fled.
But the police saw footage of surveillance cameras “which clearly show the suspect in the yard pulling a handgun out of his backpack, firing at five people and then shooting himself in the head” he said. Captain Wegener.
The weapon, a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, was found on the spot with the magazine empty, and no other suspect is wanted, he said.
The investigation is just beginning but at this stage, no precise motivation or ideology can explain the action of the shooter, who seems to have acted alone and premeditated his action.