A crowd was present Wednesday night at the closing of a Northern California high school graduation ceremony when a shooter killed a teenager and wounded three other people, including an 11-year-old boy, authorities said.
“The event was attended by approximately 1,000 people and hundreds of potential witnesses to this tragedy,” police in Fairfield, Solano County, said in a statement Thursday.
Investigators are in the process of interviewing those witnesses as they piece together what happened at an event filled with new graduates and their families. Police said they were “working diligently to identify those responsible.”
The shooting occurred in the Fairfield High School parking lot at 7:15 p.m., Fairfield Police Officer Michelle Belyea said at a news conference Wednesday night. Sem Yeto High School's graduation was just ending on campus.
Among the injured was the 11-year-old boy, along with a 20-year-old and a 25-year-old. The person who died after being shot was 18 years old, according to police. No further details about the victims were released.
After the shooting, witnesses said they saw a woman performing CPR on a teenager still wearing his graduation cap and gown. It is unclear if he was the victim who was fatally shot. KRON4 reported.
As of Thursday, police and school officials said there was no indication “of an ongoing threat to the schools and community,” the Bay Area news station reported.
With Fairfield High's graduation scheduled for Friday, community members started a petition calling for it to be moved to a new location. The petitioners said it would be “disturbing for students and families” to hold it in the school stadium. The effort was successful and Friday's ceremony will be held at Armijo High School, also in Fairfield, KRON4 reported.
Police asked anyone with information related to Wednesday's incident to contact the Fairfield Police Investigations Tip Line at (707) 428-7345 or email [email protected].
