Update: Two gunmen fired 30 rounds during gang-related Oakland school mass shooting
OAKLAND -- A surge in gang violence led to a mass shooting that left two students, a counselor, a security guard and two others wounded at an Oakland school complex in a terrifying targeted shooting.
Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong told reporters Thursday that 30 rounds ripped through the campus housing Rudsdale Continuation, Rudsdale Newcomer High School and BayTech Charter at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
"We have not identified the shooters or any connection to the schools," Armstrong said. "We have not made any arrests."
The wounded students, the chief confirmed, were 18 or older. He did not disclose their conditions.
Armstrong also noted that the shooters used handguns that were possibly illegally altered to fire multiple rounds and that they "breached" the front of the school and fired into the entrance of the Rudsdale school.
"We're not sure at this point how they entered, if the door was unlocked or if it was already open," Armstrong explained. "Those are the things that we'll confirm within our investigation. But it does not look like they breached the school or used any tools to breach or enter the school."
Video captured images of at least two shooters, the chief said. He noted that they were targeting an individual.
"We believe there was an individual targeted," Armstrong said. "The individuals shot were not the intended target."
The chief also confirmed there had been an arrest in a gun-involved incident on the campus in August. Armstrong added that there was no indication that a shooting was going to occur at the campus on Thursday.
Police said two of the six wounded remained in critical condition Thursday, one was in stable condition, and the other three have been treated and released.
Oakland Unified School District officials acknowledged the impact that the violence at the school would have on both students and staff there.
"We know this is going to affect a lot of people at our school over at the King Estate campus for a long time," said OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki.
On Thursday, the district announced that the King Estates campus would remain closed and classes would be cancelled for the Rudsdale High School and Sojourner Truth (SJT) Independent Study communities at least through Monday, Oct. 3.
The district will determine and announce plans for Tuesday and the rest of next week as soon as possible, the announcement said.
When asked about how the school has responded to the incident, Sasaki said he couldn't discuss it.
"With regard to exactly what we've done at the school to protect students, protect staff, protect the campus I can't get into that right now," said Sasaki. "We're still discussing internally and we're of course reviewing what's in place."
While he wasn't among the physically wounded, Henry, a school employee who did not give his last name, told KPIX 5 the psychological impact of the shooting will linger. 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.'"
Henry wasn't the only one.
One student at the BayTech portion of the campus told KPIX she and her classmates were doing homework when they 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."
And a parent at the reunification center voiced the terror going through her mind.
"You are just so scared," she told KPIX 5. "You just want to see your kids."
The shooting came during a surge of deadly violence on Oakland streets. Nine victims have died in shootings over the last two weeks. The city has seen 96 homicides so far this year.
The incident began around 1 p.m. when gunfire erupted at an Oakland Unified School District building housing three school campuses in the 8200 block of Fontaine Street.
More than 600 students are enrolled in the schools -- Rudsdale Continuation, Rudsdale Newcomer High School and BayTech Charter.
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.
"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.
Agents from the San Francisco branch of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have also joined in the investigation.
