More than 30 rounds were fired by at least two shooters on an Oakland school campus in the Eastmont Hills neighborhood that left six people, including two students, injured Wednesday afternoon, LeRonne Armstrong, chief of the Oakland Police Department, said. 

“We know that at least 30 rounds were fired on this campus,” Armstrong said at a press conference. “That is wholly unacceptable. We thank God many more students were not injured as a result of this action.”

The preliminary investigation indicates this was a targeted shooting linked to ongoing gang-related conflicts in the city, Armstrong said.

“We do believe that there was an intended target,” he said. “We do believe that the individuals who were shot were not the targets, but we are still looking into all of the evidence at this time. From the early investigation, we know this is connected to a group and gang conflict.”

No arrests have been made and police are looking for at least three suspects, two shooters at a minimum and one driver, who Armstrong said was identified through surveillance video. The department received calls that there could have been up to four people involved, he said.

Those injured are all 18 or older; two are students, one is a counselor, another a security guard and two others are employees at the school, Armstrong said. As of Thursday morning, the police chief said three of the wounded individuals remained hospitalized with two of them in serious condition. Three were released from the hospital. 

The Wednesday shooting comes after the police department responded to a report of a “stabbing and a firearm-related incident” about a month ago, Armstrong said. 

“We have responded to previous incidents,” he said. “We did make an arrest in August. We didn’t have any information to lead us to believe that there was going to be a shooting on campus.” 

The police department received the first call at 12:45 p.m., with multiple calls following, about the incident that occurred at the Oakland Unified School District’s campus that houses the Rudsdale Continuation and Newcomer high schools, Bay Area Technology School and headquarters for the Sojourner Truth Independent Study, which doesn’t have students on site.

The police department, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol all responded. Armstrong said deputies immediately entered the campus to first address any suspects shooting firearms, provide aid to the injured and support staff and students off campus, Armstrong said. Ambulances were quickly summoned to take the injured individuals to local hospitals.

Officials quickly found that the shooters had left campus and the campus was locked down, he said.  

The preliminary investigation indicates the shooters entered and accessed the “front portion” of the King Estates campus and were armed with handguns, Armstrong said. 

“Based on the evidence that we recovered so far, it does not appear that assault weapons were used in this case,” Armstrong said. “It appears there were handguns, but most likely with an extended magazine, which would be illegal, based on the number of rounds recovered from one particular caliber.” 

Today’s gun violence at Sojourner Truth school shocks the soul — our schools are sanctuaries for our children. Our investigators report all six victims are adults + being treated for injuries at hospitals now. The school is now clear + all children being reunited w/ families.

— Libby Schaaf (@LibbySchaaf) September 28, 2022

At the press conference, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf called for federal action to put a stop to the “unbridled access to assault weapons” in Oakland and other cities.

“There’s something about the gun violence that violates the sanctity of our children’s schools that rocks us to our core,” Schaaf said. “Every big city mayor is tired of having press conferences like the one we are having here. … We will never be able to address this alone without federal leadership.”

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