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Child injured in Northern California school shooting may not regain use of legs, family says

Ishani Desai and Mathew Miranda, The Sacramento Bee on

Published in News & Features

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Doctors treating a 5-year-old boy shot last week at a faith-based elementary school in Northern California are unsure whether he will fully regain the use of his legs, family members said Thursday.

A gunman opened fire Dec. 4 at Feather River Adventist School, along Highway 70 in Butte County, and shot two kindergartners. Elias Wolford, 5, was taken to a hospital in critical condition along with a 6-year-old boy. Both survived.

Elias has undergone multiple surgeries since the shooting. But his grandmother, Debbie Wolford, wrote on social media Thursday that her grandson suffered damage to the outer edge of his spinal cord and has not retained full movement of his legs.

“We knew that there was some spinal damage,” Elias’ aunt Tawnee Preisner wrote in a separate message to The Sacramento Bee. “... but at this point, it looks like he is not going to regain it with the swelling going down, we are really asking for prayers and support.”

The Wolford family created a GoFundMe to help raise money for the costs associated with his medical bills and recovery.

The second victim, Roman Mendez, has also undergone surgeries after being shot two times. Roman’s status as of Thursday was not immediately clear.

 

Roman’s family also created a fundraiser to raise money for his medical bills.

Glenn Litton, 56, came to the school affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, located between Palermo and Oroville, authorities said. Litton met with the school’s principal under the pretext of enrolling his grandson and gave school administrators a fake name, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said during a news conference last week.

After meeting with the principal, Litton shot both boys as they wrapped up lunch break. He then fatally shot himself, Honea said.

Litton appeared to have targeted the school for an attack. The gunman had planned a similar attack at a small Seventh-day Adventist school in Red Bluff, Honea said.


©2024 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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