Motive sought in school killings
California shooter reported dead from self-inflicted wound
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A 16-year-old boy planned the attack that killed two students and wounded three others at a Southern California high school, but investigators as of Friday had been unable to find out why he took a gun to campus and opened fire, authorities said.
The boy, identified as Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow, died Friday afternoon from a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered after he shot the others the previous morning. His mother was present when he died, according to a Los Angeles sheriff’s office statement.
Berhow, described by friends as quiet but funny and likable, showed no outward signs of violence prior to the attack. After more than 40 interviews, no motive had been established, said Capt. Kent Wegener of the sheriff’s office’s homicide unit. He said no manifesto, diary or suicide note had been found.
“It still remains a mystery why,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva told a news conference.
Berhow opened fire on his birthday Thursday morning after being dropped off by his mother at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita. Video surveillance showed Berhow walk alone to the center of a quad, drop his backpack, pull out the gun and start firing, police said.
Villanueva said that after opening fire, Berhow “cleared a malfunction” with the gun and kept shooting. He counted his rounds, Villanueva said, firing about six shots and using the last bullet on himself. The attack took just 16 seconds.
“As far as we know the actual targets were at random,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff said the conclusion that the attack was planned was based on Berhow taking the weapon to school, ably handling it and keeping track of the rounds fired.
“It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment act,” Villanueva said.
Three off-duty law enforcement officers were first on the scene and treated some of the wounded until paramedics arrived.
The dead were identified as Gracie Anne Muehlberger, 15, and Dominic Blackwell, 14.
In a statement, Bryan and Cindy Muehlberger said they shared the news of their daughter’s death with “unexplainable brokenness.” They described her as their “Cinderella, the daughter we always dreamed to have,” and said her two brothers were heartbroken.
Doctors said Friday morning that two girls, ages 14 and 15, were doing well and should be released from the hospital over the weekend. Both of them were shot in the torso.
A 14-year-old boy was treated and released from another hospital, authorities said.
Villanueva said the investigation into Berhow’s life has found “nothing out of the ordinary. He’s a cookie-cutter kid that you could find anywhere.”
In fact, the stereotype of the loner sociopath is often inaccurate, according to the psychologist who wrote federal guidelines for assessing school shooting threats and has interviewed 10 shooters.
What pushes most shooters is some kind of loss or disappointment, often recent, followed by the inability to cope with a feeling of being overwhelmed, according to Marisa Randazzo, a former chief research psychologist at the U.S. Secret Service.
“These are acts of suicide as much as homicide,” said Randazzo, who is now chief executive officer of a firm that does threat assessments.
Berhow’s father was an avid hunter who died two years ago. Police said they found several firearms at Berhow’s home, and some were unregistered. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is working with police to determine where Berhow got the handgun used in the attack.