Authorities arrest Arizona felons for selling gun used in Oroville school shooting | News

BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. — Jesse Kitagawa, a convicted felon, was arrested in Arizona for illegally selling the firearm used in the December 2024 school shooting in Oroville, the Butte County sheriff announced.

On December 4, 2024, a shooting occurred at the Cox Lane Seventh-day Adventist School in Oroville, California, in which 56-year-old Glenn Litton seriously injured two kindergarten students and then took his own life. Litton, a convicted felon with a significant criminal history, was illegally in possession of a firearm at the time of the shooting, the sheriff’s office said.

The weapon, a Glock 19 “ghost gun,” was later traced to a series of illegal transactions involving multiple people in various states.

After an investigation conducted by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, investigators determined that the “ghost gun” was originally purchased from a widow in Buckeye, Arizona, by 77-year-old Steven Lyons in April 2024.

However, Lyons later sold the gun to 45-year-old convicted felon Jesse Kitagawa Jr., violating Arizona state law, the sheriff said. Kitagawa, who could not legally purchase a firearm because of his criminal record, then sold the weapon to Litton in a separate illegal transaction, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators determined that after Litton received the firearm from Kitagawa in April 2024, he practiced with it at a shooting range in Phoenix, Arizona, and purchased ammunition that matched the cartridges used in the shooting. Litton returned to California in April 2024 and attacked the school with the weapon in December.

In early January 2025, BCSO investigators traveled to Arizona to conduct further investigation and, working with Phoenix police, served a search warrant at Kitagawa’s residence. Evidence confirmed that Kitagawa actually sold the firearm to Litton for $300 at a motel in Chandler, Arizona. Kitagawa, who now faces charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, was arrested on January 9, 2025 by Phoenix Police Department investigators.

Kitagawa appeared in court on January 10, 2025, where a local judge found probable cause for his arrest and set bail. The Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office is expected to file charges against Kitagawa. His next court date has not yet been set.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea thanked the combined efforts of the FBI, Phoenix Police Department and BCSO investigators who worked diligently to track down the individuals responsible for supplying the firearm used in the shooting . “BCSO was committed to tracking down anyone who unlawfully assisted Litton, and the arrest of Kitagawa fulfills that commitment,” said Sheriff Honea.