A day of 'horror' at Santa Clarita high school: 2 dead after student shoots 5, then himself

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – Two people were killed and four injured – including the gunman – in a 16-second shooting rampage Thursday at a high school, authorities said.

The suspect, a student at Saugus High School, was taken into custody and was treated at a hospital, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said. He described the suspect as a male student whose 16th birthday was Thursday. The student was in "grave'' condition, Villanueva said.

The gunman shot five students in the school's quad area with a .45-caliber semiautomatic weapon, then shot himself in the head, said sheriff's Capt. Kent Wegener. He said there were no more bullets in the weapon when the suspect stopped shooting.

A female student, 16, and a male student, 14, died at a hospital, officials said. A 14-year-old boy and two girls – 14 and 15 – were injured, in addition to the gunman.

"We have not yet established a motive or a nexus between the subject and his victims, other than to say they were all students at the high school together," Wegener said.

Too real: Santa Clarita students made an active shooter video. Two months later, they took shelter in fear

Police were investigating reports of social media postings that may have been made by the suspect, Wegener said, including an Instagram account that included the message: "Saugus, have fun at school tomorrow."

That account did not belong to the suspect, Buzzfeed News was first to report on Thursday night, detailing that the user later declared his postings to be a joke.

"We disabled this account for violating our policies," an Instagram spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY via email. "We can confirm it did not belong to the shooter."

Investigators were working Thursday night to obtain a search warrant to learn about the owner of the Instagram account, Wegener told BuzzFeed News.

While authorities have not determined what prompted the shooting spree, some fellow students who know the suspect — whom police have not identified because he's a minor — are sharing information about him.

Brooke Risley, 16, described him as a nice, normal student who was on the cross-country team and was a member of the Boy Scouts.

“He doesn’t seem like the kind of kid to do this,” she said.

Though he was the quiet sort, Risley said he had tight friends and was deeply hurt by the death of his father when he was in ninth grade.

“He was open to his close friends. When his dad passed, that was really hard for him,” said Risley, a junior who said she worked on an engineering class project with the suspect last year.

The shooting took place shortly after 7:30 a.m. at the 2,500-student school about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles in the town that is home to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Video from the scene showed law enforcement officials swarming the area around the school and multiple victims being wheeled on gurneys from the scene to waiting ambulances.

School shootings: There have been at least 30 shooting attacks at schools resulting in death or injury in 2019

The White House said President Donald Trump was monitoring events. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted support for the victims, their loved ones and first responders working to "bring this horror to an end."

"The shocking incident at a high school in Santa Clarita is tragic and heartbreaking," he said.

Sophomore Elijah Mims, 15, told USA TODAY in a phone interview that he was about 20 feet away from a tall person in black clothes when he began shooting.

“We were right there. We were scared out of our mind," he said. "We were lucky to have not been shot in that moment. ... We never thought anything would occur in a suburb like Santa Clarita. It’s such a lovely place.”

Mims, who was born and raised in Santa Clarita, said he and friends were relaxing on the quad when they heard the first gunshot.

“Everyone had turned around, thinking someone was being funny and popping a balloon. Then there were three more gunshots, and everybody started running,” Mims said.

Mims said he and his friends ran into an empty classroom, where they sheltered with 30 to 40 other students for about 20 minutes.

“We had girls all huddling around each other. We were trying to stay quiet,” Mims said. “I told my family what happened, but I told them not to call me because I didn’t want anything ringing or buzzing to go off.”

Troy Grant, 15, a 10th grader at the school, said he heard what sounded like balloons popping.

“Then I heard it multiple times and saw a herd of students running, so I then knew it was a shooting," Grant wrote to USA TODAY on Facebook. "I don’t know what to feel right now, just hoping everyone’s safe and OK."

Lines of students walked away from the school under police direction. Students were loaded onto school and city buses to take them a half-mile to where they could be reunited with parents.

Charlotte Jinkins, 36, said she had dropped off her son Joseph, 14, a freshman, at around 7:30 a.m. local time when she saw a large group of students running toward a church at the east end of Centurion Way.

“I heard a group of kids saying, ‘They are shooting!’ ” as sheriff's deputies began to arrive. “It all happened so quick."

Her son fled to a classroom, and they were reunited a short time later.

George Atilano said his trombonist daughter, Raquel, 14, texted him that she was trapped in the band room. He said the band director went outside to confirm that there was a shooter, then went back in and found places where students could be kept out of sight, including an office and library.

“He rounded kids up and shoved them in there,” Atilano said. He said he called the sheriff’s department, and the kids were rescued about 20 minutes later.''

The school was locked down, along with all schools in the William S. Hart district. The public was urged to stay away from the area.

Former congresswoman Katie Hill, who resigned her seat this month, graduated from Saugus High School in 2004. She told USA TODAY she was “really, really concerned” for the students.

“We had countless interns and volunteers on the campaign that were current and former Saugus students," she said. "We were really, really terrified of who we might know that has been impacted."

What we know: The latest on the Saugus High School shooting in California

Secret Service: Attackers in almost all school shootings made prior threats

The shooting comes days after the Secret Service issued a report examining more than three dozen attacks over 10 years.

In nearly every case, the report concluded, attackers had engaged in threatening or other suspicious behavior that caused people to raise concerns before the assault.

The review largely tracks an analysis of mass casualty attacks in 2018, which was published this year. And it affirms a chilling conclusion: Much of the violence could have been averted.

In 80% of the cases, according to the report, the attackers' behavior was so alarming that it "elicited concern from bystanders regarding the safety of the attacker or those around them."

“In many of these cases, someone observed a threatening communication or behavior but did not act,” the Secret Service said. “These findings continue to highlight the importance of encouraging students, school personnel and family members to report troubling or concerning behaviors in order to ensure that those in positions of authority can intervene."

Bacon reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Nicholas Wu and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Saugus school shooting in Santa Clarita: 2 dead, suspect in custody