Police said they know that his mother dropped him off at school Thursday morning. They know he pulled the gun from his backpack. They know there were more weapons inside his house. What they do not know is why he did it.
“We did not find any manifesto, any diary that spelled it out, any suicide note, or any writings which will clearly identify his motive behind this assault,” Capt. Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said at a news conference Friday. He said that the police had conducted more than 40 interviews but that “no motive or rationale” had been uncovered.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva of Los Angeles County said the gunman was silent as he shot the five students at Saugus High School. He seemed to have planned the attack, the sheriff said, and also seemed familiar with how to use the gun, quickly fixing a malfunction and firing all but one round before shooting himself in the head. The shooting was captured on video, and the gunman appeared to have selected his victims at random.
“It doesn’t appear he had any interaction with anyone,” Villanueva said. “He was just standing by himself, at one point walked to the center of that quad area — dropped the backpack — withdrew with a firearm and just started firing.”
The coroner’s office identified the two students who died in the shooting as Gracie Anne Muehlberger, a 15-year-old girl, and Dominic Blackwell, a 14-year-old boy.
The suspect survived, but remains in critical condition. There is no indication that his mother knew he had a gun, Villanueva said. Investigators are tracing the weapon as well as six other guns they found at the suspect’s home.
Even as the police said they did not know what inspired the suspect, they said it was clear he had planned the attack.
The injured victims — a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy — were all in stable condition by Thursday night, the authorities said.
This article originally appeared in
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