Sept. 28 (UPI) — Six adults were injured in a shooting Wednesday at an East Oakland, Calif., school campus, according to Oakland police who said they are continuing to search for suspects.
Officers responded to reports of the shooting at around 12:30 p.m. PDT at East Oakland’s King Estates Campus that houses four different schools. Officers said the shooting was at the Rudsdale Continuation High School where they “immediately” made entry into the school and found six adults injured.
“The victims were affiliated with the school and we are determining the affiliation at this time,” Oakland Police Assistant Chief Darren Allison said at a news conference, while declining to say whether any students or teachers were involved.
The six adults with gunshot wounds were taken to area hospitals, including two who were suffering from life-threatening injuries, according to officers.
Police are still looking for at least one shooter though more people could be involved, Allison said.
While Alameda County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Kelly told ABC7 News that the shooting was “probably a targeted event,” Oakland police said they have searched the school for evidence and are still looking into all possibilities.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in addition to local lawmakers, commented on Wednesday’s shooting.
“Today’s shooting at an Oakland school was a horrifying act of violence that has grown too familiar,” Newsom tweeted. “Yet again, our kids were in the crossfire. This cannot continue — gun violence has taken too much from our communities.”
The Oakland Unified School District released a statement Wednesday saying there was an incident at “the King Estate campus on Fontaine Street, which houses the co-located Rudsdale Continuation and Newcomer high schools, Bay Tech Charter School and the headquarters of Sojourner Truth Independent Study, which has no students at the site.”
Antonio Ramirez, a counselor at Bay Tech, told the San Francisco Chronicle he heard the gunfire and immediately scrambled to lock students inside a classroom until police evacuated them.
“The reaction has been mixed, and I think that just speaks to where our kids come from,” Ramirez said. “A lot of them come from areas where shooting is part of their daily life. Some of them were shook. And for some it was another day.”
