Two children are in “extremely critical condition” after being shot Wednesday at a tiny religious K-8 school in Northern California and the gunman is dead after apparently shooting himself, sheriff’s officials said.

The gunman may have targeted the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo because of its religious affiliation, but isn’t believed to have had a prior connection to the victims or the school, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. He didn’t explain further, reports The Associated Press.

“Whether or not this is a hate crime or whether or not it’s part of some sort of larger scheme at this point I don’t have enough information to provide an answer to that,” he said.

The wounded children, boys ages 5 and 6, are kindergarteners at the school and are being treated at a trauma centre in the Sacramento area, officials said.

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