The shooting happened at a small K-8 religious school in northern California in the town of Palermo. The gunman arrived in an Uber and had a meeting with the school's principal, claiming he wanted to enroll a relative. Apparently, the shooter planned this meeting in advance:

Honea also added that investigators are looking into a "story" that the suspect called a few days ago to schedule an appointment at the school with an administrator on Wednesday. The reports indicate the suspect then showed up trying to enroll a child but deputies don't believe a child was with him. 

Moments after the meeting broke up, the shooter attempted to kill two children. Incredibly, both are still alive but in "extremely critical" condition.

Two children were in “extremely critical condition” Wednesday after being shot at a tiny religious K-8 school in Northern California and the gunman died at the scene, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot, police said.

The gunman may have targeted the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo because of its religious affiliation, but isn’t believed to have had a prior connection to the victims or the school, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. He didn’t explain further.

“Whether or not this is a hate crime or whether or not it’s part of some sort of larger scheme at this point I don’t have enough information to provide an answer to that,” he said.

After shooting two children, the gunman killed himself before police arrived. They found him face down in the playground [warning: graphic video]

WARNING: News video NOT EDITED & shows school shooters body at Feather River School.

Ok @NBCNightlyNews Creepy to show the deceased school shooters body near a playground- without blurring that image! #Palermo #California #NBC #NBCNightlyNews #LesterHolt pic.twitter.com/dW8YSxZ89f

— Always dreamin’ … (@MsAJF) December 4, 2024

The gunman hasn't been named yet because police are trying to locate his family, but they do believe they know his identity. Meanwhile, the family of one of the victims has spoken up.

One of the victims is 6-year-old Roman Mendez. Roman's sister told Action News Now he's being treated at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. She said Roman had injuries to his chest and back. The doctors told the family he had four wounds, but the family isn't certain if some of those were exit wounds.

The sister said his surgeries have been successful, but he faces a long and challenging recovery. Roman's twin brother is also a student at Feather River Adventist School and witnessed the shooting.

The story includes a photo of Roman's hand in a hospital bed.

6-year-old Roman Mendez in critical condition after school shooting in Palermo via ActionNewsNow BCSheriff says school was targeted due to its 7th Adventist affiliation. https://t.co/MFhVqqvTuT

— d. swanson (@zodee14) December 5, 2024

The other victim is age five and hasn't been identified. There are many things I'll never understand in this world but very high on that list is what motivates someone to try to murder children before killing themselves. Again, there's no evidence yet that the shooter had any connection to these kids. The were apparently targeted at random. All we know at this point is that he might have had some kind of religious motive targeting Seventh Day Adventists but even that isn't certain.

I'll update below once more information is released. Until then, here is the full press statement given by Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

Update: The shooter has been identified as Glenn Litton, 56. They have also identified his motive. He believe he was doing this because of a genocide of Palestinians.

According to Sheriff Kory Honea, investigators determined Litton’s motivation for the shooting in a typed note found on his body, as well as subsequent correspondence to other people.

Honea said evidence indicates Litton targeted the school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventist church.

Litton held a belief the Seventh-Day Adventists were involved in the genocide and oppression of Palestinians, as well as the U. S. attack on Yemen, according to Honea.

Slides presented by the police say that Litton had a long record as a thief and also some mental health problems.

The suspected Butte County elementary school shooter is identified as Glenn Litton, 56. The sheriff described him as unhoused with a lengthy criminal history. pic.twitter.com/2p9vTDbLsO

— kcranews (@kcranews) December 6, 2024

The second slide here relates to his motive.

Images shared by the Butte County Sheriff during today's 3PM press conference. Sheriff Kory Honea says they received written information they believe came from Litton that outlines a motive. pic.twitter.com/tzDFn9RgIB

— Kate Wolffe (@katewolffe) December 6, 2024

That's a quote from his note explaining that this was an attack carried out for "The International Alliance" to punish America for "Genocide and Oppression of Palestinians." The Butte County Sheriff said he had not been able to identify any such organization as the International Alliance. In other words, he may have imagined all of this as part of his mental health problems. Litton had been planning to visit another Seventh Day Adventist school in California. He himself attended a Seventh Day Adventist school in Paradise, CA when he was a child but no current connection to the school has been found. The full press conference is here.