UPDATE: Santa Clarita High School Shooter Identified to Be a 16-Year-Old Japanese American
By Khier Casino
The 16-year-old shooter who opened fire inside Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California on his birthday on Thursday has been revealed to be a junior at the school, authorities said.
Identified by CBS News as Nathaniel Berhow, the half-Japanese, half-white teen reportedly stormed the school before the start of classes on Thursday morning.
A 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy died, and at least three others — a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy — were wounded.
Capt. Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said Berhow used a .45 semi-automatic pistol before turning the gun on himself.
The shooter was in “grave condition,” meaning he is critical and holding on for life, and was being treated at a hospital after shooting himself in the head.
Berhow lives in Valencia, California, about two miles from the high school, the New York Post reported.
Mark Berhow, his father, passed away on December 5, 2017, according to an obituary.
In 2016, the shooter’s mother, Mami Matasuura, sued Mark for custody of their children, Samantha and Nathaniel.
Nathaniel’s girlfriend and mom were reportedly being questioned by police.
A student named Maxwell told Fox Los Angeles that Berhow was not like himself in the days before the shooting.
“As far as I could tell from the recent days that I’ve seen him, he was looking kind of down and I guess just kind of depressed about something,” he said. “I didn’t really ask him what it was that he was depressed about, but from what I could tell he was different. He wasn’t acting like himself.”
Feature Image via Getty, CBS Los Angeles (Inset)
This article has been edited from its original version to correctly report that Nathaniel Berhow is half-Japanese, half-white.
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