Teen shoots fellow student at Calif. school

TAFT, Calif. -- A 16-year-old with a shotgun walked into class in a rural high school yesterday and shot one student, fired at another and missed, then was talked into surrendering by a teacher and another staff member, officials said.

The wounded student was in critical but stable condition, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said. He said the teacher at Taft Union High School had a minor pellet wound to the head and declined treatment.

The gunman had as many as 20 rounds of ammunition in his pocket, the sheriff said.

After shots were fired, the teacher tried to get the more than two dozen students out a back door and engaged the shooter in conversation to distract him, Youngblood said. A campus supervisor who responded to a call of shots fired also talked to the gunman.

"They talked him into putting that shotgun down. He in fact told the teacher, 'I don't want to shoot you,' and named the person that he wanted to shoot," Youngblood said.

The shooter didn't show up for first period, then interrupted the class of 28 students.

His name was not released because he is a juvenile and had yet to be charged. But students and adults said they knew him and said he was often teased.

"He comes off as the kind of kid who would do something like this," said Alex Patterson, 18, who went to Taft with the suspect before graduating last year. "He talked about it a lot, but nobody thought he would."

Trish Montes, who lives next door to the suspect, said he was teased about his stature by many, including the victim.

"Maybe people will learn not to bully people," Montes said. "That kid was bullying him."

Montes said her son had worked at the school and tutored the boy last year, sometimes walking with him between classes because he felt sorry for him.

"All I ever heard about him was good things from my son," Montes said. "He wasn't Mr. Popularity, but he was a smart kid. It's a shame. My kid said he was like a genius. It's a shame because he could have made something of himself."

The wounded student was flown to a hospital in Bakersfield. A female student was hospitalized with possible hearing damage because the shotgun was fired close to her ear. Another girl received minor injuries during the scramble to flee.

An armed officer usually on campus wasn't there because he was snowed in, officials said.