A courageous sixth-grade girl helped her teacher calm terrified toddlers after a gunman shot two young boys, leaving them fighting for their lives.
Jocelyn Orlando, a student at Feather River School in California, described telling the children to close their eyes as the gunman “paced back and forth out the window.”
“I told the toddlers to take a deep breath and think of something happy,” Orlando said in an interview with CBS News.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen next.”
The sixth grader, who is believed to be about 11 or 12 years old, added that she ran into the classroom after hearing screaming and shooting.
After seriously wounding two boys aged five and six at the small religious school on Wednesday, the gunman then turned the gun on himself.
One of the children had to be airlifted to hospital and they are both being treated there a trauma center in the Sacramento area, officials said.
“I’m grateful they’re alive, but they still have a long way to go,” said Sheriff Kory Honea.
Jocelyn Orlando (pictured), a student at Feather River School in California, described telling the children to close their eyes as the gunman “paced back and forth out the window.”
After seriously wounding two boys aged five and six at the small religious school on Wednesday, the gunman then turned the gun on himself. In the photo: the police stand by his body
In the photo: Police stand next to the tarpaulin-covered body of the suspected gunman
The gunman may have attacked the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo because of his religious beliefs, but he is not believed to have had any previous ties to the victims.
“Whether or not this is a hate crime or whether or not it’s part of a larger plan, at this point I don’t have enough information to answer that,” Honea said.
The shooting happened shortly after 1 p.m. at the private Christian school with fewer than three dozen students in Palermo, home to about 5,500 people and about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Sacramento.
Honea said the shooter was in discussions with an administrator about enrolling a child at the school, which he described as “cordial.”
While it initially appeared the shooter had no ties to the school, it is now believed he had ties to the school or nearby church. His full identity has not yet been released and there is no clear motive for the shooting.
But it appears this was his first visit to the school and he did not know the victims. Shortly afterwards, shots rang out and people started screaming, Honea said.
The gunman’s body was found near the slide and other playground equipment on the school’s property, which borders ranchland where cattle graze.
A gun was found nearby, said Honea, who added that they tried to contact the gunman’s family before releasing his name.
Laurie Trujillo, a spokesperson for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, said in a statement that they were “deeply saddened by the events that occurred today at our Feather River school.”
She added that they are grateful to the sheriff’s office for acting quickly to protect the students.
An aerial view of the scene of the shooting in California on Wednesday
Sheriff Kory Honea said the gunman may have attacked the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo because of his religious beliefs.
Emergency responders report outside Feather River Adventist School after a shooting
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination in which members view the Bible as their only creed and believe that the Second Coming of Christ is near.
According to its website, Feather River School has been open since 1965.
The private primary school was locked down on Wednesday afternoon.
After the shooting, authorities initially took the students to a gymnasium where they remained until a bus arrived to take them off the grounds and to the Oroville Church of the Nazarene to be reunited with their families, Honea said.
Travis Marshall, the senior pastor of Oroville Church of the Nazarene, called the reunion between parents and their children “very moving.”
“Some of the kids were incredibly emotional,” he said. “A woman lifted up her hands and praised the Lord” when she found her child.
Sixth grader Jocelyn Orlando described what happened CBS News Sacramento.
“We went to lunch and almost everyone in my class heard shooting and most people were screaming,” she said.
“We all went into the office, we closed the curtains, locked the doors, basically did what we would do in a school shooting, and then one of the teachers came and we all ran into the gym.”
MP James Gallagher, whose area includes Palermo, said his “heart breaks for everyone affected by this tragedy.”
“As a community, we will all hug our loved ones tighter today as we pray for the victims and try to make something senseless,” he said in a statement.
Pictured: An aerial view of the scene of the shooting in California on Wednesday
Police tape blocks a road outside the Feather River Adventist School
Honea added that the FBI is assisting in the investigation.
The school advertises itself as providing ‘spiritually oriented education for children’.
Honea noted that this is a rural area with very few people in the building and they do their best to take care of everyone.
“I hope people can realize how hard this is on the students of the school, the faculty of the school, the members of this community, all the first responders.”
“We are doing everything we can to determine what happened and ensure everyone is safe.”
California Highway Patrol closed State Route 70 to northbound traffic near the school, diverting traffic westbound, and another southbound road was closed for about an hour.