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Subscribe to RSSA California student with a shotgun opened fire in a classroom, wounding one classmate, says Kern County, Calif., Sheriff Donny Youngblood.
Updated at 4:45 p.m. ET: A high school teacher and a campus supervisor talked a student into surrendering after he opened fire in a classroom, wounding a classmate at a school in California's southern San Joaquin Valley on Thursday morning, police said.
The student had intentional targets when he brought a 12-gauge shotgun into the Taft Union High School classroom halfway through the first period, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said in a news conference. The incident happened around 9 a.m. local time and students were evacuated to the football field, NBC affiliate KGET of Bakersfield reported.
The shooter targeted and hit a 16-year-old student in the classroom of 28, and missed firing on another student he named, Youngblood said. The wounded victim was airlifted to the hospital, where the 16-year-old remains in critical, but stable, condition.
The teacher in the classroom, along with a campus supervisor, "engaged" the shooter with conversation as students were evacuating, according to Youngbood. At one point the shooter put the shotgun down, and officers were able to take him into custody. The gunman's identity has not been released, however he was described as a 16-year-old male student who lives near the school, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.
"We want to commend the teacher and a campus supervisor to bring this to a quick resolution," Taft Police Chief Ed Whiting said. "They did a great job in protecting the kids."
The teacher, who has not been named by officials, was grazed by a pellet to the head, Youngblood said. A second student suffered minor injuries while falling over a table during the evacuation, and a third student was taken to a hospital for possible hearing loss from the gun blast sound, Youngblood said, according to Reuters.
The shooter had as many as 20 shotgun rounds in his pocket, but it's not clear how many rounds were fired, Youngblood said.
Police say the suspect reportedly had "a dialogue" with the victim before Thursday morning, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.
KGET reported that at least three ambulances and a medevac helicopter had been sent to the scene.
Earlier, Taft police told NBC News they responded to the situation and the school was on lockdown. Deputies conducted a room-to-room search, according to KGET. The Kern County Sheriff's Department told NBCLosAngeles.com the shooting happened on the second floor of a science building on campus.
The school will be closed Friday, as authorities continue the investigation, KGET reported. Officials say the high school usually has an armed police officer, but the officer was not on site at the time.
Taft is in California's southern San Joaquin Valley, about 30 miles southwest from Bakersfield.
Thursday's shooting comes just a month after the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adult staffers and renewed a nationwide debate about gun control.
In February 2010, a math teacher tackled a gunman who wounded two middle school students in Littleton, Colo., just miles away from the scene of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
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NBCLosAngeles.com's Jonathan Lloyd and Nyree Arabian, as well as Reuters, contributed to this report.
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How in the hell do you just walk into a high school with a shotgun and make it all the way to your class without getting noticed ?
..in case you folks don't know, shot guns are not small ?..
maybe metal detectors at all entry ways would be a start, at least you don't have to pay them a weekly check ?...then we can argue about getting security at all schools..
calmike...because there was nothing to stop him ...That is exactly the NRA's point.
Now-a-days students bring all sorts of things to school as props and for projects; I am sure many saw this student, but figured the weapon was for a class. Which indicates the difference between what some people think of school and others think of school. Some people like me believe that schools are places were student should be safe, if no other reason, then, WHO in their right mind would hurt a student of any age?" Other people we now know see the innocence of the academic setting as an easy target for havoc.
20 shells in his pocket. Potentially 500+ individual projectiles that could have easily been fired in a minute. No assault weapon or magazine ban could prevent this.
It's the sick individuals, not the tools they use, that are the problem.
Mike, we just can NOT get that through their THICK HEADS!!!!!!
Im guessing you never loaded and fired a shotgun before. No shot in hell can a person load and fire 20 shotgun shells in under a minute. Especially without giving someone enough time to try and apprehend them.
Not gonna read the story just some advice. how bout we make a law that no class is to be larger than 4 to 5 and alternate days of attending with a lotterey system (and parents dont cry about work, ya'll kids are off the chain)? cost would be equal to any bans the gov will try to enact on guns (dont forget the judicail sytem that already overcrowed from the drug war that mainly lookd for black men). The issue is the size of the mobs in the classes (yes i said your child is part of a mob). Decrease the size and the bully mentality will dissappear also. Not to many are strong by themselves. Ask the bully about why he bullied (like we don't know it was for approval) and kid with the gun (he needed support, to bad he found it with a gun). Both dealt with their fear differently.
FYI, there is normally a Taft Police Officer who is armed on school grounds he wasn't there because he was snowed in at home. I live in Bakersfield and I know almost everyone in Taft owns some sort of weapon and in Bakersfield too that's just us. Something was wrong with this kid and someone didn't catch it, and he was allowed access to a weapon, end of story. He had targets. People need to get smart about where they put their weapons and how they allow their children access to them. Gun Control laws can't make people do that.
I agree....responsibility, education (gun safety education), accountability, and morals...... kids not 18 therefore can't own the gun....who owns it....hold them accountable as well as the kid....
With the high unemployment and our armed forces who are coming home a school security program could be legislated so that our schools will better secured and at the same time improve the unemployment rate and the economy.Security works... gun bans don't work.
Sorry, thats the common sense approach, won't happen with the morons we have running our government.
#comments
Is all about the second amendment.
Get rid of all guns and this will probably go away.
Yes there will always be criminals, there will always be hold ups, muggings, bank robberies and so on.
What will it take for us in America to be better than what we are.
The gun violence seems to be a trend, a cool thing to do.
The price is to high.
So when an armed intruder enters your home and you don't have a gun to defend yourself or your family, then prepare to be raped/robbed/beaten to death/etc. And don't come crying to the rest of us when this happens.
Alex
Get rid of all guns? Does that include the our government? Gun violence is something cool these days, a trend, you say. That means it isn't a gun problem at all, but a societal one. Drugs have been illegal for years. How's that war on drugs working out. Hmmmm?
Great idea! They should do the same thing with drugs. Make a law to get rid of all illicit drugs and they will probably go away also. Oh, I forgot, they tried that and it didn't work.
Evil people are the problem not guns. You make the world a better place by getting rid of evil people.
@ alex
get rid of all guns you say. let me ask then, what about people in the rural areas that use guns as a tool? i went back to the family farm/ranch after i retired out of the air force. i use a gun on just about a daily basis here. we have predators in the area. i have literally seen a coyote pull a calf out of a birthing cow, then kill the calf and the cow. we have coyotes , cougars, bears, wolfs, bobcats. we the farmer/rancher need guns to protect our property ( livestock ) ourselves and members of our families from these critters. i wonder what would have happened to that womans nephew, that recently shot the bobcat that attacked him. i would say the kid would have ended up in much worse shape, if not dead with no gun becoming involved.
i cant help but think these people yelling ban all guns live in a city area and not rural one.
and your plan to magically get rid of all guns is? ask the nice gang member, drug lords, and other criminals to pretty please turn their guns and behave?
Alex,
I recommend you see what gun control has done for Australia. Higher crime.
To Eric1964: I hope knowing a couple of details and specifics about the difference in two weapons isn't your only claim to fame. I mean, it makes you sound so stupid, and implies that therein lies your area of knowledge -- about almost anything. It's like a guy bragging about knowing how to cook meth. We're not impressed.
@ mary
i received my knowledge from 20 years of military service. i don't really think gun bans will really work, if i did i would be all for them. i think what we really need to do is increase mental health care. we need to get rid of hipaa regulations when it pertains to gun background checks, when a person buys a gun not only do they receive a background check, but all members of their household have to as well. we need metal detectors set at the schools entrances. we need police officers stationed at our schools, instead of the local speed trap.
I am sick to death of the idea of dis-arming the Citizens of the US. I now only have a shot gun but if I could, I would go out and buy a semi-automatic weapon and it would not be for hunting but to protect myself from the gov't. Who do you think is behind all of this confiscating our guns..."the gov't.". Fast and Furious didn't work to get them so you will see more and more massacres until they finally succeed in getting our guns. There has been nothing but unrest in this country and it started with Bush and Obama (who is a fraud) is blatantly appointing his cronies and taking over this country.
We will see who wants guns when the revolution takes place. There will be a lot of sorry "gun haters"
You know Carlene, instead of sounding like candidate for inpatient psychiatric services, maybe you can help the families in your neighborhood parent their children, so they will not grow up to be murderers. Do something to help children and families combat the media, who are poluting our minds with the idea that adults and parents are stupid and children are smarter than their parens.
It seem's Happy people make Happy people, Bad people make Mad people, and Dumb people make Crazy people. Now Who's smart now? See, Today lot's of crazy People, making Bad decisions, making mad people, Let's Get more Good people, and less Bad people.
It's obvious what the problem is. STUDENTS! We must keep students out of our schools. That way they won't be there when crazed gunmen/women show up.
And with less liberal crap shoved down the kids throats by the majority of teachers being liberals, America will collectively gain several IQ points.
Last movie i saw where only the police and the military had firearms was Schindler's list!!
gun owners should be civilly and criminally liable for damages and injuries caused by their guns. So if your kid gets ahold of your gun, and shoots someone, you should pay for the damages and serve a portion of the time. YOu can keep your gun. But be prepared to man up to the responsibility of owning it.
I know of no gun owner who would disagree with you.
So, it's settled then. Gun owners accept responsibility, and you let us carry anywhere we want.
I accept your terms!
Got my vote Biffster. I would even like to put an addendum making murder illegal.
Hmmm......why not just expand that to, if you kid is mentally ill (or a family member for that matter) and they rob to support a drug habit, kill someone, chew a guys face off, or in any way interfere with the public at large- the family members all split the time.
Hey, yeah....your on to something, don't hold those who commit the acts responsible! Make the parents and all the relatives do time for criminals! wow......
Just think how many drug addicts, thieves or killers we would no longer have if someone else paid the price for what they do! BRILLIANT!
If I were you, I would start the movement for a petition on this in prisons, I am sure you will get lots of people who support this idea of others doing time for them or splitting it with them.
Outside, hate to break it to you but you are already civilly responsible for what your children do.
To hold parents criminally responsible, unless they intentionally assist the child, is nonsense.
So if your 14 year old takes the keys out of your wifes purse and goes for a joy ride in the car she should go to prison if he does something criminal.
Amen - law abiding gun owners don't disagree! That's the point that we're all shouting about. Stop giving up your civil liberties especially for laws that won't work and serve only to disarm and enslave
own several guns...including the AR type....all semi automatic....no one will ever use one of my guns in the commission of a crime and there will be no gun accidents with one of my guns
Gun safety education, accountability, responsibility, and morals......
Paul71 - I understand your point and it's difficult but the parent is already going to be financially responsible for the child's actions and I'm not so sure that their aren't cases where the parent should be held criminally responsible...when this is the 3rd time junior stole the car....or mom and dad already know that junior has a drug problem or is mentally deficient in some way that they could pose a threat..so I would be ok if their were some criminal culpability placed on the parent if their child stole the car and did something criminal and I would definitely be ok with a parent who allows access to a weapon being held civilly and criminally accountable in cases like Sandy Hook or other shootings. How hard would it be for mom to lock the keys in the nightstand if they have naughty junior in the house....wouldn't she be devastated if he rolled the car down the hill and only killed himself? I think most gun owners would say sure...hold us accountable
Mexico has very tough, restrictive gun laws, and it seems to be working very well for them. There is absolutely no measurable gun-related violence in Mexico. We should be just like Mexico and adopt such legislation here, which will also make the 20 million "undocumented immigrants" in the USA feel more welcome and secure.
With the huge exception of the cartels polishing off people by the hundreds, with their US provided weapons! Let's track those weapons, see where they end up! duh!
@Outside -- stop using facts and making sense. This is all about ignorance and emotion, and there is no place here for reason.
Biffster: what planet do you live on?..."there is absolutely no measurable gun-related violence in Mexico"...you've got to be kidding!!
Biffster, You are jokeing about Mexico ,correct? There have been over 50,000 homicides in Juarez during a 10 year period because of the drug wars.
Duh Flip No!!!! Their's more people in the U,S Anyways, like just With England Ha Ha Ha, That's a small Place. The U,S,A is Not the same at all. Anyone see the video on you tube about the Gun problem, That is so Right, What the Country man said you know. also Not Pierce, He Wrong. More Good People With Guns makes less Bad People, It Scare's Them. Like When Their is More cops Around, Bad people don"t want to be their, and people That speed on the road When Troopers Are Waiting in a area and the bad people Know About It, Get IT? THEY SCARED!!!!!!!!! You Think They bad, Cop's not bad they save people, They create peace and a balance, BUT LESS Funding MAKES LESS COPS so more bad people.
Definitely joking....
Matter of fact, one of the single most important reasons to have an assault rifle in my opinion. Gangs and the cartels are using them in the border states. You don't really keep drug cartel members under control with a hunting rifle, they simply blast you away with full auto.
Kind of like trying to keep a lion from attacking you- with a toothpick for protection.
Hey out there! How about homeschooling your little darlings? Do with less toys and get more education and do it. That is what this country is built on. Pioneer books (books made of flattened cow horns and with the abc's and numbers on them. Read what is NOT in or on your Kindle-iPad-or cell phone. Speak to the older generation before they are gone and learn about heart and responsibilities. They did not wait to be bullied. My son was bullied by a middle school gang of boys and finally he challenged the biggest one to a fight. The boy won and my son was never bullied again. He didn't even get a black eye but did get a headache. We took him to a pediatrician and he is now a 44 year old father and husband that knows that he can fight back.
I guess this shows that a teacher does not need a gun to do good. Good communications skills and common sense.
My prayers are with the victims!
Yeah, the last schools that had deaths were staffed with stupid teachers that didn't ask for them to surrender correctly. It's all in the pronunciation.
Hmmmmm!!!!???? Shot gun this time huh!!!??? Well....I guess that puts a whole new spin on things doesn't it.
A student, elementary, middle school or hogh school student is much much more likely to die fronm gunshot wound in this country than in any other civilized country with strict gun control. Here, it is shooting EVERY SINGLE DAY, mostly costing the lives of innocent people not criminals being stopped in the act. one there is one every 1/2 months in the news, the gun-crazis jump on it. I wish there were more but unfortunately, we all now that the percentage of gun used to save lives is ridiculously low versus guns used to kill innocent people.
FRiends killing friends, husbands killing wives or vice-versa, neighbors killing each other, by-standers cought in a fire, disappinted emplyee, depressed son, wronged customer...what a pitiful society.
I guess for many, those innocent lives wasted are inevitable and a little price price to pay for the privilege to buy bazookas and machine guns. More than not, other countries pity us rather than envy us.
THey think that the typical american fellow is the Rambo style...all he has was in his arms (muscle) and in his hands (big gun).
If you tried to kill Bambi with anything smaller than a bazooka, you would understand.
Billy, your comments are strictly ones made by a hysterical individual
Your first inaccurate statement is that more guns are used on innocent people then used to save them. You say "we all know", but you don't. Firearms are used all the time by either showing it or using it to save lives. The problem is you won't see any of those stories in the media.
Obviously from your statement you are unaware that military hardware like machine guns and bazookas were outlawed in 1934. But don't let a little thing like that stop your hysterical rantings.
Ummm, no......
In an argument against gun control, the
National Center for Policy Analysis, a non-profit conservative think tank,
reported the following statistics:
"the most stringent gun law" in the nation in 1966; two years later
the murder rate was up 46% and the reported robbery rate had nearly
doubled.--The reason they enacted these laws was because the crime rates were increasing rapidly in the first place.
harsh gun control measures and its murder rate tripled from a low of 2.4 per
100,000 in 1968 to 7.2 by 1977.
most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Since then, the city's murder
rate has risen 134% while the national murder rate has dropped 2%.
Gun laws with more restrictions, or bans are not the answer to the problems at hand......we have these examples to use as we come up with solutions.
Good thing he didn't have an assault riflr
No parental supervision...shotgun wasn't locked up evidently...let's start hitting the parents of these kids in the pocketbook besides having them serve some time along with the perpetrator. As far as the situation at Sandy Hook, everyone of those parents and the relatives of the adults that were shot should file a suit to claim damages based on wrongful death of their children in civil court. If you can't get these parents to start behaving as real parents; sue them for everything thing they have...I know that will not bring their loved ones back but maybe they'll think about being more responsible about keeping their weapons out of the hands of their children be they young or mentally challenged, before something bad happens.
juanita, I think you are on the right path. I will raise your focus on responsible parenting with focus on responsible media. Sure parents may be negligent for poor parenting and most of all helping children to understand the difference between reality and fantasy when it comes to TV sitcomes and movies.Structurally, families are going to hell too, generally, alot of parents let their children have too much freedom and don't demand respect from their children. How many times have you been in line at the movies or some store and here some one cussing, talking about sex or drugs, or graphically swearing right next to another adult who is with a young child? I see this a lot!! Next we as parents and adults have to help mass media curb the violence, vulgarity, and lack of respect for humanity in movies, television shows, and music. Yes lock the weapons up, know where your weapons are at all times. But most of all teach children about respect, love and how to cope effectively in life.
Your making an assumption on where the shotgun came from. You know what they say about people that make assumptions.
@juanita dominguez
Who are you recommending they sue? The gun owner (Mrs. Lanza) is dead. Oops!
Yes, I know that the gun owner (Mrs. Lanza) is dead...I should have added that the suit should be brought against the estate of Mrs. Lanza...I understand that she was quite wealthy.
Paul: thanks for reminding me about what they say about people that make assumptions...point taken...we do not know where this boy got the shotgun...chances are, he got it from home. I'm sure that we'll soon hear about it's origin.
So much for the police in every school idea. Where was the cop? Out getting a donut?
The cop couldn't get to work because he was snowed in. They obviously didn't think it was necessary to send a replacement!
Well, I guess this absolutely speaks volumes that the problem is NOT the so-called "Assault Rifle". You can go through anything available on earth that can kill a human being. STOP FOCUSING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION THAT IS USED. THE PROBLEM IS A MATTER OF THE HEART!!!!!!!! THE HEART!!!!!!!!!!! THE HEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And what is going on in the SOULS AND MINDS OF PEOPLE!!!! I'm sorry to capitalize but I am purposely trying to SCREAM THIS AS LOUD AS I CAN. You people are focusing on the wrong things. You have a whole Presidential Cabinet meeting downtown today and they're ALLLLLL missing it. Every single last one of them.
If this kid had an assault rifle I hate to think of the body count and carnage that we would be reading about.
The whole presidential cabinet has been missing it for over 30 years, get used to it. Thats why this country is in shambles. It will get better after the revolution.
No, the difference was the teacher. His shotgun is a lot more deadly than an assault rifle. With the majority of assault rifle used the bullet is .22 inches big, kinda small with lots of room to miss. With a 12 gauge shotgun at 10 to 15 feet it shoots the pellets (round bullets) into a 2 to 3 foot pattern. You hit a lot more things that way…
Captain222
They said he fired twice. So if he hit with both shots from an assault rifle. That would be , let's see,1,2 ,,,,, two , yeah two that's it.
Captain, he was specifically targeting two students. If he wanted to kill everyone in the classroom I have no doubt he could have done so. A shotgun is very deadly and is much more powerful than an assault rifle.
Exactly MikeB2010, the difference here was the person, not the weapon of choice. They talked him out of it, so he was not intent on killing everyone. A shotgun is more than adequate for killing large numbers of people.
I grew up around guns and was taught 1. Respect for them, 2. that guns were not the answer to my problems, 3. Life is sacred and it is not my place to take it unless it was to save another in immediate danger.
Our kids are bombarded with violence on tv and video games. They are over scheduled, not parented by parents but by people who want to be their friend, not given boundaries or talked to so that they can learn right from wrong. We give our teachers a laundry list of things we expect them to teach and not enough time to do so along with overcrowded classrooms and unrealistic parents who can't see their kid's true ability, not to mention NO reinforcement at home for what is being taught.
Good thing the teacher and the campus supervisor were able to engage the student, talk to them and stop this from being worse. Sounds like the poor kid was bullied and targeting those kids, and until we teach our kids to respect one another and live with the fact that we are all different, these things are going to continue to happnen.
Why is everybody assuming the kid was "bullied"? Maybe he's just a little pr*ck with a bad temper!
"Thursday's shooting comes just a month after the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults and renewed a nationwide debate about gun control.
In February 2010, a math teacher tackled a gunman who wounded two middle school students in Littleton, Colo., just miles away from the scene of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre."
Dear DUMBARSE Reporter,
Journalism 101 teaches that if the sentence is NOT relevant to the story it should NOT be in the story. EPIC failure on you, and the editor's part, unless you're just trying to fan the flames of gun control. {:ease explain how the last 2 sentences have any relevanxe to the story. Nevermind, I'm sure you cannot...
(David N.'s wife here.) Another incident with a firearm but this time the offender is a minor is he not? In Canada he would be and even though we have gun legislation blah, blah, blah he would only get a slap on the wrist, a short stay in juvenile dentention and be back on the street within a few months facing a short stint of probation. That's all folks! So what is really the problem? IMO it is when cases like this get to court or for that matter even go to court; most of these people either get very light sentences or walk and that is the sad part about it. Its all about Human Rights you say as to a fair trial etc. but screw the rights of the deceased as they are dead anyway. (Scarcasm intended.)
I live in a very large metropolitan city and regardless of the rigid gun laws we have FTR during the interim of the past two weeks there has been two separate fatal stabbings both committed by young offenders so is banning guns really isn't the answer as the bad guys will only figure out another way to exterminate the innocent. Bottom line, we need to crack down on the punishment.
Correction: Should have read: 'so is banning guns really the answer as the bad guys will ......... etc.'
at least the carnage was small... this time. Becoming a daily event in this country...
vannie... sounds like the rant of tea billy hack...