The authorities said that Mr. Litton had suffered from mental health issues for decades. Based on writings they uncovered after the shooting, investigators said that he believed that he was an officer in a paramilitary organization tasked with performing child executions.

… Mr. Litton had a criminal history that dated back to his teenage years and included convictions for identity theft, forgery and petty theft, the authorities said. He had been incarcerated several times, though the authorities noted that none of his previous crimes were violent.

It’s not clear what Litton’s incarcerations accomplished. It’s not out of the question that his time inside caused or exacerbated his condition, leading to this shooting.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/159095

Here’s the archive link: http://archive.today/2024.12.06-125212/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/us/school-shooting-california-kindergarteners.html

    • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      This makes me very sad to say but, CEOs getting shot has a better chance of getting the gun control that would protect future kindergarteners from shootings

      • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.workOP
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        20 days ago

        Ironically, an idealistically legitimate purpose of an armed public is to maintain a credible threat against the likes of health insurance CEOs.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      20 days ago

      They whitewash fascism by blaming this on “mental health” and “homelessness”.

      They’ll never talk about the deep racism throughout the injustice system. They won’t talk about the right-wing ideology. They won’t ever talk about the actual problems with pale skinned people. The capitalist media provides absolute cover for fascism, genocide, etc.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        You’re making an awful lot of baseless statements that conflict with the known facts so far. The police think he targeted the school because of its affiliation with the Seventh Day of Adventist church. There’s no indication that this was politically or racially motivated.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
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    20 days ago

    Mr. Litton … Mr. Litton … Mr. Litton

    wtf? Why are they calling him “Mr”? Most of the time they just go with the last name: “Litton was seen, Litton did this”, why does this guy get a “Mr”?

    • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.workOP
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      Who’s they? The media in general or just the NYT? I don’t read the NYT enough to know their standard. Now that mention it, I think I prefer the use of a title as opposed to just a person’s last name.

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      Two boys were rushed to hospitals on Wednesday after they were shot by a gunman on their rural school campus in Northern California. The authorities say the suspect had a history of crimes and mental illness.

      A wooden sign in front of a school campus reads “Feather River School, Seventh-day Adventists.” The authorities believe the gunman may have targeted Feather River Adventist School because of its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventists.Credit…Andri Tambunan for The New York Times

      Published Dec. 5, 2024Updated Dec. 6, 2024, 12:25 a.m. ET

      The two kindergartners were on their way to the restroom during lunchtime on Wednesday, in what was supposed to be a simple trip before heading back to class at the Feather River Adventist School.

      Instead, a short time later, they were shot and badly wounded by a gunman.

      The boys, Roman Mendez, 6, and Elias Wolford, 5, were soon whisked away from their small campus near Oroville, Calif., one by ambulance, the other by helicopter, and both rushing to hospitals with no time to spare.

      “It’s horrible,” said Vanessa Diaz, who has been visiting her brother Roman in the intensive care unit where he remains unconscious. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

      On Thursday, the boys had improved to “critical but stable” condition, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced, offering a glimmer of hope to this rural community about 60 miles north of Sacramento that has endured an unusual amount of heartache in recent years. Residents were already trying to organize fund-raisers, hold vigils and pull together money to support the victims and their families, just as they had done in the past in this agricultural region.

      Six years ago, residents here suffered through the Camp fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise about 20 miles up the road. And a year before the blaze, everyone in Oroville had to toss their belongings into a vehicle and scramble out of town one night, fearing that the towering Oroville Dam would erupt at any minute.

      In Wednesday’s shooting, the authorities believe the gunman, identified as Glenn Litton, 56, had targeted the parochial school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventists, a Protestant Christian denomination. He later killed himself.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    Who the fuck shoots up a kindergarten? What a piece of shit.

    It’s not clear what Litton’s incarcerations accomplished. It’s not out of the question that his time inside caused or exacerbated his condition, leading to this shooting.

    The punitive and judicial branches of our government seem to take pride in the fact that our incarceration system does not offer reform and rehab, and is only meant to punish instead. While not everyone who is incarcerated comes out or prison worse than when they went in, it happens often enough that I think we need a radical overhaul of our prison system.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      Somebody so far gone mentally that they believe they’re a child execution agent working for the government.

  • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
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    20 days ago

    School shooters are such absolute pussies. They could be shooting up anywhere and they always choose the most innocent people in the country as their victims. Guess it’s not a surprise almost every single school shooter comes from a conservative family.

  • Copythis@lemmy.world
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    What’s crazy is that this is a REALLY small school… It’s like, a couple class rooms and a playground out in the middle of nowhere.