School Shooting 2013

The shooting comes less than four weeks after a December rampage at a Connecticut elementary school where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults in an attack that shocked the nation and has fueled a heated national debate over gun control.

The latest shooting unfolded Thursday morning at Taft Union High School in the Kern County town of Taft, about 30 miles southwest of Bakersfield and about 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles

One student critically wounded by gunfire was airlifted to a nearby hospital.

 high school student in California walked into class armed with a shotgun, shot one child and missed another before staff "heroics" helped prevent further bloodshed.

The 16-year-old gunman's victim was airlifted to hospital where he was in a "critical condition" after the shooting on Thursday at a high school in Taft, north of Los Angeles, said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood.

After the shots were fired, a teacher and a campus supervisor arrived and engaged the shooter in conversation, allowing the rest of the 28-member class to get out safely.

"The student was still armed with a shotgun, and they stayed and... distracted him in a conversation, allowing the students to get out of the classroom and ultimately talking the student down," Youngblood told reporters.

The 16-year-old student showed up late to class armed with a 12-gauge shotgun.