By Michael Weber | Chico Enterprise Record
PALEMRO — Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said a man suspected of shooting two children Wednesday afternoon at a school in Palermo appears to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Butte County Sheriff’s Office deputies and FBI agents responded to a report of a school shooting Wednesday afternoon at Feather River Adventist School.
Honea said BCSO received 911 calls of a shooting at the school around 1 p.m. and deputies in the southern part of the county responded immediately.
Highway 70 was closed in both directions around 2:45 p.m. near Cox Lane as law enforcement deals with the scene. FBI agents were seen at the school in Palermo.
It’s very early on in the investigation, Honea said, and law enforcement investigators are still “piecing together the bits.”
When deputies arrived, they found two students at the kindergarten through eighth grade school injured.
The injured students were taken to local hospitals. Honea did not confirm the extent of their injuries, but he said he will look into an update on their condition.
Deputies found a man on the ground with self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and Honea said he died at the scene.
The information gathered from interviews of witnesses leads investigators to believe the man was responsible for the shooting.
Deputies are working to identify the man.
There were 35 students attending the school at the time of the shooting, Honea said. those students were sequestered and taken by bus to the Oroville Church of the Nazarene and the Sheriff’s Office is working to reunite those students with their families.
At the church, Butte County has crisis counselors from Butte County Behavioral Health, victim assistance personnel from BCSO and law enforcement chaplains to provide support to the students and families, Honea said.
This story may be updated.
