California College Employee in Critical Condition After Shooting on Campus

A shooting at Southern California’s Santa Monica College late Monday night has left an employee critically injured, prompting officials to shut down the campus on Tuesday.
According to the community college, the shooting occurred around 10:00 p.m. local time on Monday at the Center for Media and Design, a satellite facility that also houses the popular public radio station KCRW. The shooting resulted in a victim, who has not yet been publicly identified, being hospitalized in critical condition.
No other injuries have been reported and no arrests have been made. The Santa Monica Police Department, which is spearheading the investigation, has not provided further details on the incident.
While the circumstances around the shooting remain unclear, local authorities are continuing their investigation into what officials said was a “workplace violence incident.”
“This was a workplace violence incident, not a random act,” the Santa Monica College’s statement said. “The college is fully cooperating with authorities, and all Santa Monica College campuses will be closed on Tuesday to prioritize the safety and well-being of our community.”
Newsweek reached out to the Santa Monica Police Department via email on Tuesday for comment.
Santa Monica College serves approximately 30,000 full- and part-time students across several satellite campuses in the city. It is unclear whether the college will remain closed in the coming days.
The shooting comes after several other shootings at school campuses within recent months that have resulted in the injury and death of people.
In August, four people—two men and two women—were injured during a shooting at Virginia State University. Authorities responded to the shooting that occurred in a large crowd at the university, which is roughly a 30-minute drive south of Richmond, Chesterfield County Police said.
The four people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and no police officers discharged their guns, according to police. Two suspects were taken into custody.
In late August, a Rice University student was allegedly fatally shot by her boyfriend, who then turned the gun on himself, in her dorm room on the college’s first day of classes.
University police found junior Andrea Rodriguez Avila dead in her room at Jones College—a residential college of Rice University—in Houston after they conducted a welfare check. A family member had requested the check after they had not heard from Avila, university police chief Clemente Rodriguez said in August. Officials also found a man dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. While he was not a Rice University student, Rodriguez said the two were in a “dating relationship.”
Since the start of this year, 13,436 people have been killed by firearms with 25,693 injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.