Hannah Schooping-Gutierrez, center, a student at Saugus High School, is comforted by her boyfriend Declan Sheridan, at right, a student at nearby Valencia High School during a vigil at Central Park in the aftermath of a shooting at Saugus Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, in Santa Clarita, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)A student pulled a gun from his backpack and opened fire at a Southern California high school, killing two students and wounding three others before shooting himself in the head on his 16th birthday, authorities said.
The gunfire began around 7:30 a.m. at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the shooter was a student at the school but did not identify him.
Saugus Highs security is provided by one unarmed sheriffs deputy and nine campus supervisors who act as guards, said to Collyn Nielson, chief administrative officer for the William S. Hart Union High School District.
In speaking with staff and hearing reports, students reported they knew what to do and immediately went into lockdown mode, he said.