Taft Union High School Shooting: 2 Injured, Teacher Ryan Heber One of the Victims

Impact

Police have confirmed that an armed gunman attacked Taft Union High School in Taft, California, at around 9 a.m. PST on Thursday, shooting one student and a teacher.

A spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, Ray Pruitt, said that victim had to be flown via emergency helicopter to a Bakersfield, California, hospital, and that it appeared that the shooter had used a shotgun in the attack. The shooter is believed to be a current student at the school.

None were killed in the assault on the second floor of the campus science building. The condition of the student is unclear, but the teacher’s injuries were described as minor. Unconfirmed tweets indicate the teacher shot is likely TUHS district science teacher Ryan Heber.

A live feed can be found here.

A tweet pic of the emergency helicopter: 

The attacker is in police custody. Students have been evacuated to the school’s football field, where they await their families for pickup.

Emergency services received frantic calls from students and faculty hiding in closets. BuzzFeed collected tweets from students, some of which were apparently sent during the incident:

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), representative of the county where Taft is located, issued a statement to the Christian Post soon after news broke of the incident.

“I am deeply saddened and troubled by news of the shooting. Judy and I offer our prayers to the victims, their families, and the entire Taft community.”