Alleged suspect in elementary school shooting identified
UPDATE (10:26 PM): A forged alias, fictitious grandson, extremist writing and a ghost gun detailed the deceit behind a gunman's planned attack at a small, close-knit religious school in Butte County, California on Wednesday.
Investigators say 56-year-old Glenn Litton has been known to law enforcement for decades, dating back to crimes he committed as a minor.
"That juvenile record included a number of thefts and also traffic violations running from police," said Mike Ramsey, District Attorney for Butte County.
Ramsey says Litton served time as a juvenile in 1984. His first prison sentence as an adult was in 1991 for theft.
He fell off their radar until 2002 when Litton stole the IDs of a handful of people in the area, making fraudulent credit card charges in their names.
At the time of his arrest, deputies found him at a wig shop, buying a disguise.
"In his car...officers did a search after his arrest, found leg shackles, handcuffs and walkie talkies," Ramsey shared.
Inside of his house, deputies found a bulletproof vest, parts for a taser, and a Google history, searching for guns and explosives.
"Notes in the computer to himself were fairly significant in terms of planning of some sort of mass incident involving explosives," Ramsey added.
Litton was convicted of 12 counts of theft, forgery and ID theft in 2003.
Years later, Litton pleaded guilty in two separate *federal* cases for identity theft, once in 2016, and before that in 2015.
In a detention document from his 2015 case, the judge ruled there was a "serious risk the defendant will endanger the safety of another person or the community."
"In March of '24, Linton was a suspect in a theft of approximately $1,166 in Phoenix, Arizona," Ramsey said.
In his most recent offenses, the Butte County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) says Litton was accused of stealing money from the cash registers on his second day of a job at a CVS, and just last month, he was arrested in south san francisco after stealing a U-Haul truck in Chico.
Officers there also found him with a fake drivers license, with the same name he would later use to make an appointment at the Feather River Adventist School.
Litton was released on his own recognizance. He was then picked up by a family member and taken back to Sacramento just two weeks ago.
BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Two boys remain in critical condition after a gunman opened fire inside a Northern California elementary school Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities say they have positively identified the suspect that shot and injured two kindergartners, ages five and six, at the Feather River Adventist School, near Oroville, after meeting with the principal.
The alleged shooter was later found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Authorities say the alleged suspect is 56-year-old Glenn Litton, who had a lengthy criminal history and suffered from mental illness.
"So, it's been again over 20 years since he's booked into the Butte County Jail, but he has been involved in other criminal matters in other parts of the state," said Sheriff Kory Honea with the Butte County Sheriff's Office (BCSO).
There is still no known motive for the attack, but authorities say they believe it was a targeted the school due to its affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
