'This Was A Horrific Tragedy': Mass Shooting Was Latest Traumatic Event To Hit Butte County

OROVILLE (CBS13) — Wednesday night's mass shooting in Oroville was the latest traumatic event to hit Butte County.

"This was a horrific tragedy that was visited upon our community," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a press conference Thursday. "Another tragedy we are having to deal with and endure in this community."

The Oroville Dam crisis, the destructive Camp Fire and now a shooting rampage inside a greyhound bus have all occurred in the county.

Sheriff Honea says law enforcement rallied to care for victims after a 21-year-old opened fire on passengers on a bus outside an AMPM. One woman died and four others were injured.

"Last night was an extraordinary night in our little town of Oroville," Sheriff Honea said.

First responders scrambled to save lives while searching for the gunman. They found him inside a nearby Walmart. Art Vaught shops there.

"The way things are going today, you never know," Vaught said. "So, luckily, I wasn't here last night or up there."

Vaught met his wife in Oroville in the 1960s. They moved away but returned for the small town feel.

"You run into people you know, you wave at them and talk tomorrow then," he said. "You don't get that in the big towns.

He was one of many on edge about the shooting and was surprised more precautions aren't taken on buses.

"And they don't have any kind of detectors on there, so that guy had that gun there all the time brothe," Vaught said.

As the survivors met with crisis teams and some of the victims recover, many wonder if the town will recover the innocence and charm that brought so many to the area.

"I am thankful we were able to take this individual into custody, thankful nobody else got hurt and I am really thankful of all the efforts of all the law enforcement agencies in Butte County who came together once again in a time of crisis to perform remarkably well," Sheriff Honea said.