Taft classroom shooter arrested, used shotgun, planned more shooting

The 16-year-old Taft classroom shooter who used a shotgun to critically injure another student has been arrested and the shotgun has been recovered. An investigation into the Taft classroom shooting has shown that the Taft classroom shooter had multiple rounds of 12 gauge shells with him according to a Jan. 10, 2013, San Diego 10News report.

Taft's classroom shooting comes less than a month since the Connecticut school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and only two days after local police stations in San Diego called some San Diego schools to prepare them with emergency instructions for classroom shooting situations.

The Taft classroom shooting occurred only a few hundred miles northeast of San Diego, southwest of Bakersfield at Taft Union High School. Taft Union High School teaches grades 9 through 12.

Around 9 a.m., a 16-year-old Taft classroom shooter came late into the classroom in the Science Building at the school with a shotgun, talked to one of the students, and then shot two to four rounds at him. After being able to strike the first student once, the Taft classroom shooter then turned to another student who he addressed by name, and fired again.

After the Taft classroom shooter missed his second target, the classroom teacher was able to distract the Taft classroom shooter so that the other 20 students could leave the room.

After receiving several 911 calls, it took Taft police officers about a minute to get to the school where they found the classroom teacher with a disarmed shooter.

The Taft classroom shooter’s first victim was airlifted to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield and according to a latest report is in critical but stable condition. The classroom teacher was “grazed” in the head but denied medical treatment.

According to Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, the Taft classroom shooter told authorities that “he was planning on shooting another student.”

San Diego’s 10News sister station, KERO-TV, reported that it had received phone calls from people inside the school who were hiding in closets.

After the Taft classroom shooting incident, KERO “said it contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and they said they will not comment on the situation.”

As in the Connecticut school shooting incident and in the Adam Lanza case, it appears that the FBI prefers to share as little information as possible with the public.

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