A shooter kills 2 at a Northern California library and an 18-year-old suspect has been arrested

AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on a fatal shooting in California.

A child was also taken to the hospital with a minor injury.

Police later determined the suspect acted alone and identified him as Bradley Scott Sayer of Chico. He was booked into the Butte County Jail on suspicion of two counts of murder. There was no indication he had any prior relationship with or connection to the victims, police said in a statement. Authorities have not released their names.

A police department dispatcher early Tuesday did not know if Sayer has a lawyer and no one could be immediately reached at the jail. A search of Butte County court records did not show his name and a phone number could not be found for him.

Police said the Butte County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are assisting in the investigation.

All Butte County library branches will be closed Tuesday, officials said.

In a Facebook post, the county offered its “deepest condolences to everyone affected, including the victims, their loved ones, library staff, and all those impacted by this heartbreaking incident.”

It wasn’t the first act of violence at a U.S. library.

A man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting a man in a library and another man in a convenience store in 2023. In 2020, a suspect was sent to a mental health facility after he pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a library security guard in Spring Valley, New York. A teenager who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting two public library employees in Clovis, New Mexico, in 2017 was also sentenced to life in prison.