California High School shooter revealed as Nathaniel Berhow who opened fire on fellow students on his 16th birthday (photo)

The California high school student who carried out a shooting at his high school on his 16th birthday that killed two classmates and injured three others, before turning the gun on himself has been named as Nathaniel Berhow.

The student pulled a 45 caliber semiautomatic handgun from his backpack and fired on fellow students during classes at about 7.38am Pacific Time at Saugus High School on Centurion Way in Santa Clarita.

The teenage gunman survived a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and was taken to the hospital after he was arrested. 

At a press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva revealed that officers responded to the school within two minutes of getting the first 911 call and found six students suffering from gunshot wounds.  He said the suspected shooter was initially mistaken for a victim.  

According to law enforcement, surveillance video from the school showed the accused gunman pulling a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol from his backpack, firing on five people and then shooting himself in the head. 

The law enforcement officials said the boy was taken to the hospital, where he is listed in grave condition, while a female student, aged 16, along with a 14-year-old male student died of their injuries.

The surviving victims of the shooting are two girls, ages 14 and 15, and a boy aged 14.  

A childhood friend of the California school shooting suspect described him as being quiet and introverted.

Speaking near his home, Ryan told KTLA: ‘We were playing the back yard we had a triage type of thing that we would play in”

‘Over the years we stopped talking, there was a disconnection [between us].

‘He was doing his own thing. It’s a shock to all of us. His father passed a year ago or something like that.

Asked if there were weapons in the home, he replied: ‘His dad used to make bullets so I’d assume he had bullets and stuff like that.

Ryan said of the suspect’s father: ‘Super nice, outgoing, always willing to help people, a craftsman, he was always in the garage and welding.’

According to him, the father of the suspect had an issue with alcohol but that changed recently.

Ryan added: ‘He had a spike, and started doing a bunch, uncontrollably. It’s crazy, it shows you, you don’t know what people are going through, I guess.

‘I wish I could’ve known what he was going through, or talk to him.’