Saugus High School shooting

The perpetrator was identified as Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow (November 14, 2003 – November 15, 2019), a junior at Saugus High School.

Berhow carried out the shooting on his 16th birthday.

He shot himself in the head with his last bullet and died the following day in a hospital.

Berhow lived with his mother.

His father died of a heart attack in December 2017.

Several students described Berhow as a quiet student who "seemed like one of those regular kids".

Berhow was a Boy Scout and a junior varsity cross country runner for Saugus High School.

Described as a good student, Berhow was taking an AP European History class.

On November 14, 2019, at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, United States, a school shooting occurred when a student with a pistol, identified as 16-year-old Nathaniel Berhow, shot five schoolmates, killing two, before killing himself.

As a response to the rise of school shootings elsewhere in the United States, the William S. Hart Union School District had undertaken a number of measures to improve security at the school.

According to the district's website, all schools have a school resource officer assigned to each campus.

Schools are surrounded by fencing and supervisors monitor those who enter and exit the campus.

Saugus High School has fencing and at least a dozen security cameras, but no metal detectors.

The gates for the school are routinely locked during instructional time and would be opened only for students to leave for lunch or to leave school at the end of the day.

Visitors are required to sign in and out of the school.

The schools hold at least two lockdown drills per year, and use a "Text-a-Tip" hotline for students to report suspicious behavior.

Each school has a "Safe Schools Ambassador," a student trained to work within their peer groups to prevent bullying, teasing, and violence on campuses.

Earlier in 2019, students at Saugus High School had participated in a class project to create a training video for dealing with an active shooter.

Students who happened to be near this November shooting credited this project with helping them know how to respond.

Each classroom was equipped with gunshot wound kits; at least one wounded student was medically treated from one of these kits during this event.

Towards the end of period 1 classes at Saugus High School on November 14, 2019, while some students were in the outside courtyard or quad, Saugus High School junior Nathaniel Berhow pulled a handgun from his backpack and fired on fellow students there.

The weapon was later identified by Los Angeles County Sheriff as a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun, a privately made firearm assembled from a kit.

Surveillance footage documented Berhow's actions: after he fired one round, the pistol apparently jammed.

He fixed it, shot an additional four people with the next rounds, including one in the stomach, and used the last to shoot himself in the head.

The shooting started at 7:38 am and lasted sixteen seconds.

The handgun was found outside in the area of the shooting.

Three off-duty police officers, who had just dropped off relatives at the school, were the first responders on the scene: a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and police officers from Inglewood and Los Angeles.

They were joined within a minute by uniformed deputies on duty from the sheriff's station in Santa Clarita, as well as a sheriff's deputy who works at the school as the school resource officer.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said firefighters also responded to the shooting before 8 a.m. Santa Clarita is a contract city that uses county sheriff and fire services in lieu of operating its own police and fire departments.

Many students fled the area and some left the campus, while warning others.

Teachers moved students away from danger into classrooms.

One injured student escaped the quad and took refuge in the school's choir room, where the teacher barricaded the door and rendered first aid.

Of those who barricaded themselves in classrooms, many used lessons learned in school shooting drills to fortify their protection.

One student recounted that a student passed out scissors to all students in the room following the drill's recommendation to arm themselves with scissors, chairs, or anything heavy, in case the shooter were to find the hiding students.

Two students, 15-year-old Gracie Anne Muehlberger and 14-year-old Dominic Blackwell, were killed.

Two girls, aged 15 and 14, and a 14-year-old boy were injured.

Four students were hospitalized at the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, three in critical condition, including the shooter.

Two were transported to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

The last injured student was released from the hospital on November 18.

Aside from all being students of Saugus High School, the gunman and his victims reportedly had no known personal connection.