Two boys shot dead outside elementary school in California

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/24/two-boys-shot-dead-elementary-school-california

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Boys, 11 and 14, attended schools in the district as police investigate possible link to previous shooting

Two boys were shot dead while sitting in a van outside an elementary school early on Saturday morning, police said.

The shootings of the boys, aged 11 and 14, took place in the parking lot of Searles Elementary School, the East Bay Times reported.

Callers to 911 reported hearing gunfire at 1.26am, the newspaper said. Authorities said that when officers arrived, they found the boys. The older boy died at the scene and the younger child died en route to a trauma center, the Times reported.

New Haven Unified School District superintendent John Thompson said in a statement that the victims were minors. The boys attended schools in the district, Thompson and a district spokesman said.

No arrests were immediately made in connection with the killings.

Police Lt Steve Mendez said there was no sign of a connection between the shooting and the school where it took place. People occasionally gather in the relatively secluded parking lot, Mendez told the Times.

Thompson said the school district “will have support for our students and staff at the sites where these students attended when school resumes after the Thanksgiving break”.

The district also will work with the Union City police department “to ensure that our schools are as safe as they can be,” he said.

Police were investigating the possibility that an earlier shooting may be related to the death of the two boys, the Times reported. At about 12.30am on 20 November, two men were shot and wounded near an intersection in Union City.

The men were treated at a local hospital and released. Police told the newspaper no evidence so far has linked the two incidents.