At least six people were injured in a shooting at a school in Northern California on Wednesday, Oakland Police Department Capt Casey Johnson said at a news conference.
Three of the injured were in critical condition at Highland Hospital in Oakland, the other three were taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley and their condition is unknown, officials said.
The shooting took place on a street where there are several schools and where many school-age children live, the TV station reported.
The incident is “no longer active,” said Alameda Sheriff’s spokesman, Lieutenant Ray Kelly.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tweeted that all the injured were adults and that the shooting occurred at Sojourner Truth Independent Study, an alternative kindergarten through 12th grade that is located on the same block as three other schools.
According to Oakland Fire Department spokesman Michael Hunt, paramedics had transported six patients to hospitals, all with gunshot wounds.
John Sasaki, a spokesperson for the Oakland Unified School District, said in a statement that district officials “have no information beyond what the Oakland Police Department is reporting.” He said the Sojourner Truth Independent Study headquarters has no students.
Oakland Police tweeted that officers were investigating a shooting on Fontaine Street, where the schools are located.
The day before Wednesday’s shooting, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong announced plans to address ongoing gun violence in the city by increasing police presence in areas where gun violence is concentrated and where police believe people are often involved. are at shootings.
This most recent shooting comes after more than two years of increased gun violence that began early in the pandemic. 96 people have been killed so far this year, most of them with weapons. Last year around this time, 102 people were killed.
Prior to the pandemic, homicides and gun violence in Oakland — along with a number of cities in the region — hit historic lows. But by mid-2020, gun violence increased and the usual refuges of schools, community centers and violence prevention workers were largely unavailable. By the end of the year, 102 people were killed, 24 more than the year before.
The city’s youth has not been spared this increase in murders. At least 14 people under the age of 20 were killed in 2020, according to a Guardian analysis of state murder data. The following year, more people were killed, including 18-year-old Demetrius Fleming-Davis, an Oakland resident who was shot and killed while riding in the back of a truck.
“Many of us have plans that we can’t even fulfill because we die at 18 and 19. It’s just a big war zone that we’re facing and I don’t know how it’s going to be stopped,” said Cianna Williams, a 19-year-old friend. from Fleming-Davis last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
