The California sheriff’s office investigating the recent shooting at a Christian school said the suspect likely considered the attack a “countermeasure” to any involvement by the U.S. in a “genocide” against Palestinians.
Authorities say Glenn Litton opened fire at the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville on Wednesday, critically injuring two students on the playground before he died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two students were in “critical but stable” condition on Thursday, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said.
Honea suggested during a press conference Thursday that Litton targeted the school, operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, because of how the U.S. has involved itself in a conflict in the Middle East.
“There’s written information that we received that we believe came from him and the information that I think is most probative to why he chose this school is this statement right here,” Honea said.
The sheriff said that information reads, “Countermeasure involving child executions has now been imposed at the Seventh Day Adventist school in California, United States by The International Alliance.”
“I, Lieutenant Glenn Litton of the Alliance carried our countermeasure in necessitated response to Americas involvement with Genocide and Oppression of Palestinians along with attacks toward Yemen.”
Investigators are trying to determine whether there is actually an “International Alliance” trying to “engage in terrorist acts of this nature,” according to the sheriff.
“At this point, we have not been able to find any organization that calls themselves ‘The International Alliance’ and that is active in this regard,” he said. “And in terms of him saying that he’s a lieutenant in this, there’s nothing – we found no information to lead us to believe that this organization has some kind of military or paramilitary structure.”
Honea told the reporters Litton had some “significant mental health issues.”
“And it appears that he pulled information from various sources, and it all came together in his mind to form a reality that perhaps is false or different than ours, of course,” the sheriff said.
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