Kindergartners are ‘critical but stable’ a day after a California school shooting

OROVILLE, Calif. — The two kindergartners, close friends, had left their classroom together at the Feather River Adventist School for a simple trip to the restroom.

A short time later, they were shot multiple times and badly wounded, said Vanessa Diaz, a sister of one of the victims, Roman Mendez.

Roman and his friend were soon whisked away from the small campus near Oroville, California, one by ambulance, the other by helicopter, and both rushing to hospitals with no time to spare.

“It’s horrible,” said Diaz, who has been visiting her 6-year-old brother in the hospital where he remains unconscious. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

On Thursday, the boys improved to “critical but stable” condition, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced, offering a glimmer of hope to this community about 60 miles north of Sacramento that has witnessed an unusual amount of heartache in recent years. Residents were already trying to organize fundraisers, hold vigils and pull together money to support the victims and their families, just as they had done in the past in this agricultural region.

Six years ago, residents here suffered through the Camp fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise about 20 miles up the road. And a year before the blaze, everyone in Oroville had to toss their belongings into a vehicle and scramble out of town one night, fearing that the towering Oroville Dam would erupt at any minute.

In Wednesday’s shooting, the authorities believe the shooter, who later killed himself, had targeted the parochial school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventists, a Protestant Christian denomination.

The campus, which serves about 35 students, is a familiar marker for residents, rising from the fields along Highway 70, the main road that leads south to Sacramento. It also has hosted local basketball games and other community events.

The shooter had scheduled an appointment Wednesday with the school’s principal to discuss the possibility of enrolling his children in the school — a meeting that may have been a ruse to enter the grounds, the authorities said.

The school is gated and has tight security.

Shortly after the meeting ended, the authorities said, the principal heard shots being fired and screams.

Roman was struck by multiple bullets that punctured his liver and spleen, Diaz said. He is being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit of the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he has undergone multiple surgeries and has two more scheduled for Friday.

Roman has a twin brother, and both boys began attending Feather River this fall, Diaz said. Their mother, a practicing Adventist who lives in Oroville, chose the campus in part because of its strict security protocols, Diaz said.

She added that Roman loved Spiderman and was the more outgoing of the twins.

“He’s a little daredevil,” she said. “He’s always happy. He’s just a typical little boy, so much energy, you can never get him to sit down.”

When the authorities arrived on campus Wednesday, they found the shooter already dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. The shooter had been identified by the authorities, but his name had not yet been released as of Thursday afternoon.

The authorities said they were not aware of any prior threats that the shooter had made against the Feather River school or other campuses connected to the Seventh-day Adventists.

The Northern California Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists said Thursday that it had closed all its schools to “allow everyone to spend time with their families.”

“We are deeply saddened by the events that occurred today,” the organization said in a statement. “Join us as we lift up these children and their families in prayer.”

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