Santa Clarita Shooting: 1 Slain Student Was Nephew Of Sheriff’s Dept. Employee

Updated at 4:20 p.m. ET

One of the two students who died in Thursday’s shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., was the nephew of an employee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, underscoring the shooting’s devastating impact on the nearby community.

“The 14-year old-boy is the nephew of one of our security officers,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, in an interview Friday morning with local TV station NBC 4 in Los Angeles.

A female student also died in the shooting; Villanueva identified her at a midday news conference Friday as Gracie Muehlberger, 15.

“Her parents, Cynthia and Brian, [are] obviously devastated,” Villanueva said. “We’re with them. And it’s a tough day here in Santa Clarita.”

Other victims in the case aren’t yet being named publicly, the sheriff said, because their families haven’t been able to inform all of their relatives.

Of the suspected gunman in the case, the sheriff said, “the suspect’s condition still remains critical and hasn’t changed.”

Three other students were also shot: two females, ages 14 and 15, along with a second 14-year-old male. One male victim was released from the hospital late Thursday; the other victims were in stable condition as of Friday morning, Villanueva said.

Investigators are still working to figure out a possible motive, Capt. Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau.

“Suffice it to say, we did not find any manifesto, any diary that spelled it out, any suicide note or any writings which will clearly identify hid motives behind this assault.”

Villanueva refuted local reports that have suggested the gunman shot his ex-girlfriend and her best friend.

“That is not accurate,” the sheriff said. “As far as we know, the actual targets were at random.”

The suspect had been dropped off at school by his mother, Villanueva said. And he said investigators have recovered several firearms from their house, including some that he said “were not registered at all.”

Noting the suspect brought the gun to school and seemed to count his shots as he fired, the sheriff said, “It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment act.”

The shooting took place in the school’s quad and was captured on its surveillance video system. Citing that footage, Wegener said on Thursday that from the moment the suspect took a pistol from his backpack, then shot his fellow students — and then shot himself in the head — only about 16 seconds elapsed. But that quick succession of events has left a tight-knit community reeling.

Of the families whose loved ones were killed or wounded in the shooting, Villanueva said Friday morning, “It’s devastating for them. They’re in total shock.”

“Everyone else who had a family [member] in the school, they had that moment where they didn’t know the safety or the whereabouts of their children,” the sheriff added.

Describing the shock of the violence that struck before classes began Thursday morning, Villanueva said that even for parents and children who were safely reunited, “That’s just a hard road to travel.”

Three off-duty law enforcement officers were the first to respond to the call of shots fired at Saugus High — because they were dropping their kids off at the school. As urgent messages went out over police channels, the three officers rushed inside to help.

In the NBC affiliate interview, Villanueva said the group included a Santa Clarita sheriff’s detective:

“He had just dropped off his family member at the school. He was driving away, went through the roundabout — and as he was leaving, he saw all the kids running. And then he was joined by an officer for Inglewood PD, and an off-duty officer from LAPD.

“So the three of them were the first on scene. They made entry into the school — as everybody is running away, they’re running towards the sound. And they came across the six victims suffering from gunshot wounds. And they started [first aid] treatment right there on the spot.”

Emergency medical staff says the quick response was “a key point to save lives” in the moments after the shooting, Villanueva added.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says a Saugus student carried out the attack on his birthday, carrying a.45-caliber pistol to school on the day he turned 16.

As his department investigates the shooting, the sheriff also says it’s important to work on better ways to prevent tragedies like the one that hit Saugus High School from happening at other schools. For starters, the sheriff said, the easy availability of guns in the U.S. is a problem that must be addressed.

“Where can we go from here? How can we prevent a future [shooting]? We have to do something. And gun control is that one that’s just hanging out there and we have to work on.”

Villanueva later added, “Unfortunately, there’s the prevalence of guns — over 300 million floating in our country. Everyone else has access to them at some point. And in the wrong hands, this is the tragedy that happens.”

The students who were shot will be identified on Friday, Villanueva says.

The sheriff has said the suspect turned his weapon on himself immediately after the shooting and was taken to the hospital along with his victims. The suspect has not yet been publicly named. On Thursday, Villanueva said the suspect was in “grave condition.”

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