SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) Investigators worked to figure out why a boy known as a regular kid opened fire outside a Southern California high school on his 16th birthday, killing two students and wounding more before turning the gun on himself.
Investigators so far offered no motive for Thursdays shooting at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita.
The teenager was described as a quiet and smart kid who was a Boy Scout and had previously run track for his school.
Gunfire began around 7:30 a.m. and authorities estimated that the suspect took just 16 seconds to pull out the weapon, shoot five classmates and then himself.
At the time, students were standing around and greeting each other in the large central outdoor area.
He just fires from where he is. He doesnt chase anybody. He doesnt move, sheriffs homicide Capt. Kent Wegener said.
The teenager remained in critical condition, Henry Mayo Hospital spokesman Patrick Moody said Friday.
Video showed the last thing the assailant did was shoot himself with the final bullet in the .45-caliber handgun, Wegener said. The weapon was empty when it was recovered.
A 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy died.
Doctors said Friday morning that two girls, ages 14 and 15, who were both shot in the torso are doing well and should be released from the hospital in a day or two.
A 14-year-old boy was treated and released from another hospital, authorities said.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the shooter was a student at the school but did not identify him.
A post on an Instagram account that said Saugus, have fun at school tomorrow and reported as possibly belonging to the shooter was debunked.
The account did not belong to the shooter and it was disabled for violating policies, Instagram owner Facebook said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Friday.
Investigators were searching the suspects home. Wegener said the sheriff’s department had not received any recent calls to the boy’s house “that would indicate that there was turmoil” there.
