Multiple people fired at least 30 rounds in an Oakland, California, school shooting Wednesday that left six wounded and is suspected to be gang-related, police said Thursday.
Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a news conference that authorities feel fortunate more people were not harmed in the shooting, which he called "wholly unacceptable."
"We know that there were at least two shooters and another accomplice related to this case, but there may have been more," he said. "We also know that there were over 30 rounds fired on this campus. That is wholly unacceptable. We thank God that many more students were not injured."
All of the shooting victims were adults, officials have said.
Armstrong said two were students. Also wounded were a counselor, a security guard and two staffers. He said police suspect at least one person was targeted in the shooting, which was believed to be gang-related.
Three people remained hospitalized Thursday, Armstrong said, two of whom were in critical but stable condition.
The shooting occurred shortly before 1 p.m. at a campus with a middle school, a high school and two other schools in the city’s Eastmont Hills neighborhood, Assistant Police Chief Darren Allison told reporters Wednesday.
The victims had “some affiliation” with Rudsdale, one of the schools. Mayor Libby Schaaf said Wednesday that the gunfire erupted at Sojourner Truth, a K-12 independent study school also at the campus.
Victims were found inside the school, Allison said.
The shooters entered through a front entrance at Rudsdale looking for one or more people, Armstrong said. They didn't make it far into the school before shots rang out and injured innocent bystanders, he said.
"We do believe that the individuals who were shot were not the targets," said Armstrong, who said there is video evidence.
The shooting sent students scrambling. Some dived under desks, while others tried to barricade doors, NBC Bay Area reported.
Schaaf said at the media briefing Thursday that Congress must act to stem the gun violence epidemic plaguing big cities.
"We have to do better," Schaaf said. "We have to continue to demand the people who hold the most power to change things like what happened yesterday to take that action."
The shooting is the second at an Oakland school in less than a month. Authorities said a 12-year-old shot a 13-year-old boy at Madison Park Academy on Aug. 29, wounding the boy.
Oakland, a city of nearly half a million, is struggling with gun violence. On Tuesday, Armstrong announced a plan to reduce the violence.