The suspect who is accused of opening fire at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, Thursday morning, killing two students and wounding three others, has been identified as 16-year-old Nathaniel Berhow, multiple news outlets report. CBS News, CNN and the Los Angeles Times reported the student’s identity.
Berhow, who remains hospitalized in grave condition, was a Boy Scout and a member of the track team, according to online records at Athletic.net. Classmates described him to CNN as a “good student” and said that he was acting “totally normal” in the days leading up to the shooting.
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Berhow, whose 16th birthday was Thursday, is in grave condition after a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His gun was recovered at the scene and had no more bullets in it, authorities said.
Authorities are investigating a motive and executed a search warrant on Berhow’s home on Thursday. His girlfriend and mother were at the sheriff’s office waiting to be interviewed Thursday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Capt. Kent Wegener said that the shooting was captured on school surveillance video. “Detectives have reviewed the video at the scene which cleat show the subject in the quad withdraw a handgun from his backpack, shoot and wound five people, and then shoot himself in the head,” Wegener said during a news conference on Thursday.
Police said at a press conference that the gunman removed a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol from his backpack and opened fire on the quad, shooting five students before shooting himself in the head.
Before Berhow was identified, police described the suspect as an Asian male wearing a black hat and blue jeans.
Two students — a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy — were killed in the attack that took place around 7:30 a.m., before school was in session. Three others — a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl, and another 14-year-old boy — were wounded.
Dr. Larry Kidd of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital said at a press conference Thursday that one of the injured victims was stable and had been released from the hospital, with another in critical condition. “It is a very traumatic and emotional time for victims, family,” Kidd said.
Berhow’s father died in 2017, according to an online obituary.
Saugus High School posted on its website that the campus was closed until further notice after the shooting. Two months ago, six students at the school were detained on felony charges for allegedly making threats online, the Times reports. Authorities said those threats were not related to Thursday’s shooting.
