An Oakland school shooting that injured 6 was gang-related, police say
The manhunt for at least two shooters continues in Oakland, Calif., after gunmen opened fire on Wednesday at a school complex in what police said was a gang-related incident.
Six adults suffered gunshot wounds on the King Estate campus, which houses four different schools, shortly before students were released for the day, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said during a Thursday press conference.
The victims include two students, a counselor, a security guard and two other campus employees. Two people are in critical condition, and a third is in stable condition. The others have been released from local hospitals.
"We know that there were at least two shooters and another accomplice related to this case, but there may have been more," Armstrong said, noting that investigators believe the incident is gang-related.
He added: "We believe that this is related to ongoing conflicts in our city that have driven violence throughout our city and we'll continue to follow up on leads to identify those responsible."
"We also know that there were over 30 rounds fired on this campus. That is wholly unacceptable. We thank God that many more students were not injured as a result of this action," he added.
Oakland Police Department says the shooting was gang-related
Armstrong said officials believe the gunmen were targeting a specific person but did not say who that may have been. Investigators are also still working to determine what touched off the shooting.
Video footage and other evidence show that the gunmen breached the gates of the Rudsdale High School portion of the King Estate campus, where the shooting occurred.
"The individuals who are responsible for this are still out in our community, armed and dangerous," Armstrong said.
A rash of violence has led to nine homicides in 10 days
The shooting comes a little over a month after another incident at the same school in which a student was stabbed and pistol-whipped. (The Oakland Police Department declined to answer NPR's questions about the incident or provide further information.) And it has been less than a month since a 13-year-old suffered a gunshot injury at Madison Park Academy, a nearby middle school. In that instance, the police department determined it was "not a deliberate school shooting" and that the victim was not the intended target. The San Francisco Chronicle reported a 12-year-old was subsequently arrested.
Officials told NPR there have been nine homicides across the city over the last 10 days.
During a press conference last month, Armstrong called the surge of such violence a "people problem," explaining that, "It is people in our community who have become unable to solve conflict without using firearms. And that's sad because it's leaving so much trauma in our communities." [Copyright 2022 NPR]
