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CORNING, Calif. (Cristina Rendon/KTVU) - The entire staff at Rancho Tehama Elementary school is being credited for saving the lives of children seconds before a gunman entered on campus Tuesday morning during a shooting rampage.
Richard Fitzpatrick, Superintendent of the Corning Union Elementary School District, said he watched school surveillance video of the shooter, Kevin Jansen Neal, and called the footage “horrific.” Fitzpatrick described Neal as being frustrated when he could not gain access locked classrooms.
Maintenance Supervisor Randy Morehouse spoke to KTVU on Tuesday and said he was not at the school for the shooting, but pointed classroom walls that had bullet holes in them. Neal took aim at the office and a surveillance camera too.
“The custodian who is 6 foot 4,” he said, “Get into the classrooms, get into the classrooms!” Morehouse said. “He was able to get everyone inside and there was no one left on the blacktop. He’s an absolute hero.”
Fitzpatrick said several children were playing in the quad before the start of school in the moments before Neal approached the school. He said a secretary first heard gunshots and staff initiated a lockdown immediately without any instruction from police.
When the custodian heard Neal ram the front gate of the school, the custodian peeked his head around a building and caught Neal’s attention. Neal reportedly fired shots at the custodian then had trouble with his gun.
“The custodian’s actions in diverting the attention from the shooter at that time, gave us the much needed seconds to complete the [lockdown] process,” Fitzpatrick said.
Roughly 8 to 10 second passed between the lockdown being completed and Neal arriving on the quad where children previously were.
A 6-year-old boy hiding under a desk inside a K-1 classroom was hit in the chest and foot by a bullet that went through the wood walls of the classroom. He is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center and in fair condition.
“The reason we have a situation where I have 1 student injured on campus and nothing worse is because of the heroic actions of staff, every single of them,” Fitzpatrick added.
Roughly 80 children attend the school that has four classrooms and nine employees. The school is closed but the district plans to re-open it after the Thanksgiving holiday break.