A teenage boy suspected of killing two students in a shooting at a school outside Los Angeles was today described as “one of those normal kids” who had a girlfriend and was never bullied.
Police were trying to establish what drove the alleged attacker, named in US reports as 16-year-old Nathaniel Berhow, to launch a rampage at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita.
The shooter was initially believed to have been a victim when he shot himself in the head after firing at fellow pupils on his birthday, before classes began yesterday.
Many teachers and pupils barricaded themselves in classrooms after he pulled a .45 calibre handgun from his backpack and opened fire in the playground, shooting dead a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy and injuring at least three others, aged 14 and 15.
The attacker was today said to be in “grave condition” in hospital. Devastated pupils later gathered for a vigil in a Santa Clarita park.
“My worst nightmare actually came true,” said Shauna Orandi, 16, who was in a Spanish lesson when she heard four shots and another student burst in saying he had seen the gunman.
She added that she thought: “This is it. I’m going to die.”
Also fearing the worst, another teenager, Taylor Hardges, texted her father telling him: “I love you. I’m pinned in a room. We’re locked in.”
California: Santa Clarita School Shooting - In pictures
Kyra Stapp, 17, was watching a documentary in class when she heard two shots. She was taken to a teachers’ break room where they locked the door and turned off the lights.
Ms Stapp had been texting her mother but stopped when she was escorted to safety by police.
“She’s been texting me and all of a sudden she’s not,” said her mother, Tracy, afterwards. “That was like the worst 10 minutes of my life, I swear.”
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Berhow lived with his mother in a modest home in Santa Clarita, a suburb of about 210,000 people known for good schools and safe streets. His father died two years ago.
Andy Anderson, 70, who knew Berhow, did not think he was bullied. “He was a good-looking, tall kid. I thought he had his stuff together.”
Joe Fitzpatrick, 18, a senior who helped the teacher in the teen’s physics class, called him a “good, quiet kid” who did not miss assignments and did well in tests.
Authorities said they have no indication the boy was acting on behalf of any group or ideology.
He had a girlfriend, with investigators focusing in on a troubled relationship.
With the shootings certain to revive the debate over gun laws, President Donald Trump tweeted that he was monitoring the “terrible events” at the school.
