SAUGUS—The names of the victims who died in the Saugus High School shooting on were released Thursday, November 14.
Gracie Anne Muehlberger, 15, was one of the teens who was fatally shot during the school shooting that occurred in the Santa Clarita Valley on November 14. She was transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia where she was pronounced dead at 9:23 a.m. the day of the shooting. Along with Gracie, a 14 year old male student, Dominic Michael Blackwell, was also fatally wounded in the shooting. Each of the teens have Go fund me pages which have raised over $40,000 each to help their families with the funeral services.
During a press conference held by LA County Sheriff’s Department held on November 15 shortly after noon, Captain Kent Wegener of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau confirmed a facebook account thought to have belonged to the shooter was in fact not his account. The account which was posed as that of the shooters posted a message the day prior to the shooting which stated, “Saugus High, have fun at school tomorrow.” Search warrants are pending on the known social media accounts that belong to the suspect.
LASD announced there wasn’t a diary, manifesto, suicide note, or any writing found to indicate the reason for the shooting. All evidence from the crime scene has been collected and the scene has been cleaned. Several firearms were recovered from the suspects home.
All firearms that were registered to the suspects father were accounted for and the other firearms which are not registered at all, are being investigated and researched as to their origin, including the firearm used by the suspect during the shooting, per ATF Los Angeles Special Agent Carlos Canilo.
According to Sheriff Alex Villanueva, the shootings appeared to be random. The shooter appeared to not have said anything prior to unloading his weapon and was said to be standing alone before walking to the quad area where the shooting took place. The entire incident is said to have taken 16 seconds from beginning to end, including the suspect’s firearm jamming before he turned the gun on himself. The suspect died Friday at 3:32 p.m. after a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Department. He is identified as Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow, 16, a junior at Saugus High School.
Sheriff Villanueva stated the students recently had a lockdown drill a few weeks ago and students seemed to know what to do during the shooting.
Other victims and their families in the school shooting do not wish their names to be released at this time. The motive of the shooting still remains unknown.
The Mayor of Santa Clarita, Marsha McLean, announced there will be a candlelight vigil held for the victims and those affected by the shooting on Sunday, November 17 at Central Park, located at 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road at 7 p.m. For more information, visit saugusstrong.org.
LASD stated they have conducted over 40 interviews thus far and encourage those who saw something or know something about the suspect to please contact the Sheriff’s homicide department at (323) 890-5500.
