Two people killed and child injured in northern California library shooting

Gunman, 18, faces first-degree murder charges after killing two people and injuring a child at library in Butte county

An 18-year-old gunman, who police said wanted to carry out a Columbine high school massacre-type shooting, was expected to face first-degree murder charges after killing two people and injuring a child at a northern California library Monday evening.

Chico police dispatchers received multiple 911 calls around 5.12pm on Monday where they could hear what sounded like screaming and gunshots, Billy Aldridge, the city police chief, said during a press conference on Tuesday. Aldridge said police were on the scene and had the suspect in custody within four minutes, crediting the rapid response time for preventing more deaths.

The victims were identified on Tuesday as 74-year-old Robert Johnson of Orland, California and 46-year-old Jacob Hull of Chico. According to police, the injured child was with Hull.

The shooting suspect “was looking for a confined, populated location to attack” when he approached the Chico branch of the Butte county library, according to Sid Patel, a field agent in the FBI’s Sacramento office.

The suspect, identified as Bradley Scott Sayer of Chico, did a walkthrough of the library before returning to his car to retrieve a shotgun from the trunk, Patel said. The suspect shot the first victim near the library entrance, disabling him with a shot to the leg before fatally shooting him in the head, Patel said. The suspect then fired “multiple shots” inside the library before fatally shooting a second victim in the head. A young girl, who was not identified because of her age, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released from the hospital, police said.

The suspect carried out the shooting while wearing a white T-shirt scrawled with the words “natural selection” – an apparent homage to one of the shooters who carried out the 1999 Columbine high school massacre in Colorado that killed 13 students and a teacher. The shirt was among the first indications the suspect was inspired by the Columbine mass shooting, Patel said. Officials said the apparent motivation to emulate Columbine was further revealed in the suspect’s interviews with detectives and through his social media habits.

“The suspect was a fan, and a fan for some time, of social media involving Columbine-type shootings, the school shootings, and had unfortunately made a deep dive into that social media community, and obviously lost his way in that,” Michael Ramsey, the Butte county district attorney, said on Tuesday.

The shooter had graduated only weeks earlier from Chico high school, with friends and family describing the teen as shy and bookish.

The suspect’s father, David Sayer, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, said there had been “zero” warning signs before the shooting. Sayer told the paper his son was shy and “high-functioning” on the autism spectrum.

“Brad has always been a delicate little flower,” Sayer told the Chronicle. “He’s never harmed anybody. I can’t say that anymore.”

Sayer last spoke to his son just hours before the shooting.

The suspect was scheduled for arraignment in California superior court on Thursday where Ramsey said he was expected to face two counts of first-degree murder, and could face additional attempted murder charges.

Officials are continuing to investigate how the suspect obtained the shotgun used in the shooting, and additional firearms found in his car. Aldridge, the police chief, said the guns were registered “to the family name” but did not elaborate. In California, a person can purchase certain long guns like shotguns at 18 years old.

The Chico branch library was previously scheduled to temporarily close in August for renovations. The library’s director on Tuesday said the branch would remain closed until renovations are complete. In the meantime, other Butte county library branches will remain open but with additional security.

Chico is a college town, located 90 miles from the state capital in Butte county, and home to about 107,000 people. Butte county previously saw shooting incidents in 2024 when a man shot two kindergarteners at an elementary school – both children survived – and in 2022 when a man opened fire in a Greyhound bus, killing a 43-year-old woman and injuring four others.