Two children wounded and gunman dead in California school shooting

A gunman in the US state of California shot and injured two children aged six and five at a school before fatally shooting himself, in what police said was a possible targeted attack.

The children are in severely critical condition and are being treated at a trauma centre, officials said on Wednesday.

The attack happened at a school affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church near Oroville, California, about 55 miles (89km) from Sacramento.

Investigators said they believe the gunman targeted the school because of its affiliation with the church.

The shooting occurred shortly after 13:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the gunman, whom they did not name, had scheduled a meeting with a school administrator to discuss enrolling a student.

The meeting was seemingly cordial, Sheriff Honea said, but things took a turn when the gunman opened fire on students outside a classroom, striking two kindergarten-aged children.

Sheriff Honea said the victims were in "extremely critical condition".

"I can tell you that the injuries are very, very serious," he said. "I'm thankful that they are still alive but they have a long road ahead of them."

The shooter then turned the handgun on himself, police said. The gunman was found dead by first responders with the firearm near his body.

The school's remaining 35 children were later transferred to a church, where they were reunited with their families.

Sheriff Honea said that investigators "have received some information that leads us to believe that the subject responsible for the shooting targeted this school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church," though he did not provide more details.

Part of the investigation, he added, is trying to determine whether the enrolment meeting the gunman had prior to the shooting was genuine or just a ruse to access the school's campus.

Sheriff Honea stressed that it remains early in the investigation, which he described as complex. He said the gunman's name was not released because possible associates were being interviewed.

He added that authorities believe it is an isolated incident, but a state-wide alert was sent to other schools affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church out of an abundance of caution.

The church is a Protestant Christian denomination with over 21 million members worldwide. There are one million members of the church in North America, according to the North American Division of Seventh-Day Adventists.