Hostage situation ends at Oroville school; student in custody

A tense hostage situation at an Oroville high school ended about an hour after it started Friday morning when Butte County Sheriff's deputies took a 17-year-old gunman into custody and reported that all hostages were safe and uninjured.

The Las Plumas High School student fired numerous shots randomly into the air at the start of the standoff around 9:15 a.m. Friday. Initially, about 30 students were in the Las Plumas band room where the situation evolved, but all except three either were allowed to leave or escaped, said Butte County Sheriff's Capt. Jerry Smith.

"He had a handgun," Smith said, adding that he didn't know the make or model. "He had no history at the school of being a troublemaker or otherwise."

Smith said the motive had not yet been determined.

Officials are questioning the boy, as well as the three female students who were held hostage for more than an hour Friday.

Smith said the young gunman faces a variety of potential charges, including kidnapping and assault.

Frantic parents of Las Plumas High students were instructed to go to the Church of the Nazarene on Monte Vista Avenue, where students have been sent.

Counselors are stationed at the Southside Community Center on Wyandotte Avenue, states a sheriff's news release.

The high school, along with five others in the Oroville Union High School District, were on lockdown Friday morning during the incident.

The lockdown has been lifted and the district is allowing students at other schools to be picked up at their schools by their parents or guardians, a notice on the district Web site states.

Schools in the Oroville Elementary School District also were on lockdown, which has since been lifted, district officials there said.

Several law enforcement agencies and emergency crews responded to the hostage situation, including the sheriff's department, Chico Police, Gridley Police, Oroville Police and Cal Fire crews.