Oakland school shooting involving multiple gunmen injures 6 adults; 2 critical
OAKLAND -- A shooting involving multiple gunmen at a school campus in Oakland injured at least six adults Wednesday afternoon.
The shooting happened at around 12:45 p.m. at the King Estates complex of schools, shared by Rudsdale Newcomer and Bay Area Technology School (BayTech) at 8210 Fontaine St. in the city's Oak Knoll/Golf Links neighborhood. The Sojourner Truth Independent Study online learning program is also based there but has no students at the site.
Witnesses told police a car pulled up to the school campus and three gunmen got out and opened fire, and then they drove off. Alameda County Sheriff spokesperson Lt. Ray Kelly said the scene of the shooting was "no longer active."
Reporter Katie Nielsen said police sources indicated it may have been a targeted shooting.
Oakland Police Assistant Chief Darren Allison said police officers, Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, and California Highway Patrol officers all responded and immediately entered the campus to look for victims and suspects, attended to victims, and escorted students out of the campus.
"I completely understand the fear, the emotion, the panic, when shootings are occurring at our schools, with our young children, and it's completely and wholly unacceptable," Allison said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon
Allison said the shooting happened at the Rudsdale portion of the King Estates campus and all those injured were adults and somehow connected with the school. Among the six injured, two were in life-threatening conditions, one was treated and released, and two others were about to be released. The others two had injuries that were not life-threatening.
Allison said investigators were still determining the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
"We know that we encountered victims inside the school, and we are looking at all the circumstances surrounding when the incident started and when it entered, or if it entered, deep into the school," said Allison.
"We just hear, like, shooting, but I didn't see, I didn't think to look around. I just turn around to see the school, and I just hear, like, somebody was shooting and they closed the door and don't let anybody get in," said parent Alejandra, who did not give her last name.
One student at the BayTech portion of the campus said she heard the gunshots.
"We were in our class just doing our work and then we heard, like, six gunshots, seven gunshots coming from the other school, Rudsdale," said the student. "I was panicking."
Henry, a school employee who did not give his last name, told KPIX 5 that he was eating lunch when he heard the gunshots.
"I went to the window and I saw the bullets going everywhere. I was like, 'Is this some kind of, is someone playing?'" Henry recalled. "I saw my co-workers running away and I saw this guy getting up and he was bleeding. I was like, 'Oh my God. This is not a game. This is real.'"
Students were evacuated from school after a brief lockdown. Parents were directed to meet their children at the United Lutheran Church at 8800 Fontaine Street.
"Panicked. Scared. I was thinking the worst." one parent told KPIX 5.
Agents from the San Francisco branch of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) responded to the shooting, the agency said.
The Rudsdale Newcomer school serves the Oakland Unified School District and its website says its students are recently-arrived immigrants between 16 and 21 years old who have fled their home countries because of violence and instability.
The BayTech charter school serves 6th through 12th grade.
Police said Wednesday night that they are looking for at least one shooter and possibly more.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Oakland Police at 510-238-3821 or the department's tip line at 510-238-7950.
