California teen killed, 5 injured in house party shooting, police say

A 17-year-old girl was killed and five people were wounded in a shooting early Saturday morning at a large house party in Chico, California, police said, just a few blocks from the campus of California State University, Chico. 

Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge said in a news conference Saturday that officers were first dispatched to a different party at around 12:27 a.m. on a report that “several rounds from a firearm were discharged.”

A fight had occurred at that party, Aldridge explained, and the suspect had been asked to leave prior to the arrival of officers. Two people were hospitalized after reports that they were physically assaulted, Aldridge added. 

A few hours later, just before 3 a.m., officers were called to a different party about a mile away on Columbus Avenue, where there were reports of a gun, police said. At that second party, police found a person matching the description of the suspect from the earlier incident, and he was arrested for possession of a gun and reckless discharge, Aldridge said.

Less than 30 minutes later, just before 3:30 a.m., police were called back to the Columbus Avenue party to find that six people had been shot, with one fatality, Aldridge said. 

The victims ranged in age from 17 to 21 years old and were taken to local hospitals, police said. The five people wounded all sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Aldridge called the shooting an “isolated incident” with “no ongoing threat to the community.”

The names of the victims, including the 17-year-old girl who was killed, were not being immediately released as the investigation is ongoing, Aldridge said.   

The police chief did not say if investigators had a motive in the shooting, or whether they had identified a suspect or suspects.