One victim protected a young girl, while the other was remembered as a regular reader who found comfort at the branch.
CHICO, Calif. — Before the gunfire, Jacob Cody Hull had brought a young girl to the library for books, while Robert Johnson had settled into a place that friends said had become his refuge.
Both men were killed June 22 when authorities say an 18-year-old opened fire at the Chico branch of the Butte County Library. Hull, 46, was shot near the entrance while protecting the child, according to his family, friends and prosecutors. Johnson, a retired farm manager from Orland, was killed while reading inside. The girl escaped with non-life-threatening cuts. Police arrested Bradley Scott Sayer within four minutes of the first 911 call. Sayer has since pleaded not guilty to two murder counts and remains jailed without bail. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6, when the court could set a preliminary hearing date.
The library where the two men died was more than a building used to store books. It was Chico’s only public library branch, serving a city of more than 100,000 people as a meeting place, study room, children’s center and source of internet access. Families attended story times there. Children received free summer meals. New English speakers joined conversation groups, and people displaced by regional wildfires used library resources to replace documents and navigate government services. That broad role helped explain why the attack was felt across the city, including by people who did not know either victim but had passed through the same doors.
Hull’s visit reflected one of the library’s most ordinary purposes. He had taken the girl to choose books that she enjoyed hearing him read, prosecutors said. Accounts have differed on whether she was 7 or 8 and whether she was his niece or the daughter of his girlfriend, but relatives and friends agreed that Hull played a parental role in her life. He was described as quiet, intelligent and dependable, with a love of 1990s hip-hop. When the shooting began near the entrance, those who knew him said he put himself between the child and the attacker. The girl saw the violence but survived.
Johnson’s final moments unfolded deeper inside the building. Prosecutors said he had been sitting at a table reading when the gunman encountered him. Early official and news accounts have listed Johnson as 74, 77 or 78, an unresolved discrepancy in the public record. Authorities identified him as an Orland resident who had worked in farm management before retiring. The district attorney said Johnson considered the Chico library his happy place. His death underscored the attack’s randomness: Police said there was no known connection between Johnson, Hull and the accused shooter, and no evidence that the victims had been involved in a dispute with him.
Library employees were forced to turn familiar work areas into temporary shelters. As shots sounded, staff members moved patrons and families toward locked rooms and away from exposed areas. Some secured doors while others helped direct people through the building. The branch manager, who was away from the site, later said employees acted with courage and clear judgment. County officials credited their emergency training with protecting patrons. The shooting occurred late in the public day, at a time when attendance was lighter than during some children’s programs, though investigators have not said how many people were in the building.
The sequence began when police say Sayer entered the library without a weapon and walked through it. He returned to a vehicle, took out a shotgun and approached the entrance again. Investigators said Hull was wounded outside or near the main doorway before the attacker moved inside and fired several more times. Johnson was then killed. Authorities also allege that the gunman tried to ignite material in the library with matches before officers confronted him. The allegation is part of the prosecution’s developing case and has not been tested at trial.
The first emergency calls arrived at about 5:12 p.m. Dispatchers heard reports of screaming and gunfire. Officers reached the library about two minutes later, entering as the suspect moved toward the rear. Additional law enforcement personnel were positioned behind the building and took him into custody at about 5:16 p.m. Police said he did not exchange gunfire with officers. Investigators recovered the shotgun from inside and found two other firearms in the vehicle. The weapons were associated with Sayer’s family, and prosecutors later said the shotgun belonged to his father.
Authorities have alleged that the attack was inspired in part by the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. At the library, Sayer wore a white shirt marked with the words “Natural Selection,” matching a slogan used by one of the Columbine attackers. Prosecutors said a journal recovered during the investigation contained years of references to mass shootings. They also allege that Sayer posted a video shortly before the attack stating an intention to shoot people at the library. Federal and local investigators have been reviewing online accounts, search records and communications for evidence of planning, influence and possible contacts.
Officials have tried to describe those findings without turning the accused attacker into the center of the community’s remembrance. Police said he acted alone and had no known relationship with the victims. Investigators have not announced evidence that he was directed by a group. They have also stopped short of concluding that he belonged to a white supremacist organization, even though some online material and a gesture at an early court appearance raised questions about extremist symbols. The distinction matters because online imitation, ideological allegiance and criminal motive are related but separate issues that prosecutors would have to establish with evidence.
Sayer had graduated from Chico High School earlier in June. After his arrest, relatives and former classmates offered differing impressions of him, including descriptions of a quiet student who showed no obvious sign to them that he was preparing violence. Such accounts cannot determine whether warning signs existed in private communications or online spaces. Investigators have asked people with relevant knowledge to come forward. The defense is reviewing school, family, medical and investigative records, and attorney Roberto Marquez has said he intends to seek an evaluation by a forensic psychologist. No insanity plea had been entered as of July 22.
The formal charges include two murder counts, firearm enhancements and a special-circumstance allegation based on multiple killings. Prosecutors have said they will seek life imprisonment without the possibility of parole rather than capital punishment. Sayer pleaded not guilty July 16 and spoke only briefly in court to confirm his identity and acknowledge his rights. A preliminary hearing, once scheduled, would allow a judge to decide whether the prosecution has presented enough evidence for the case to proceed toward trial. The plea means the allegations remain unproved, regardless of public statements by police and prosecutors.
While the case moved into court, mourners gathered outside the library. Flowers appeared near the branch sign, and residents attended vigils at the building and a local church. Friends remembered Hull’s care for the child, while public accounts of Johnson centered on his quiet routine as a reader. People walked around the library after one vigil in an effort to reclaim a place associated with learning rather than violence. For a region shaped by destructive wildfires and displacement, the gathering reflected a familiar habit of responding to disaster collectively, though residents said this form of violence felt different.
Butte County reopened its branches in Biggs, Durham, Gridley, Oroville and Paradise with standing, unarmed guards during public hours. The county also offered counseling to employees and continued programs including story times, literacy events and meals for children. Officials said the added security was meant to reassure workers and patrons, not because investigators had identified a threat to another branch. The Chico building remained closed while the investigation overlapped with previously planned renovations, leaving residents to use alternative locations and services.
That closure has kept the scene of the attack apart from daily library life, but the institution’s work has continued elsewhere. The Aug. 6 court date will advance the criminal case, and county leaders will continue reviewing security and the Chico branch’s future reopening. For the families of Hull and Johnson, however, neither process changes the central loss: Two men went to a public library for the ordinary acts of caring for a child and reading in peace, and neither returned home.
Author note: Last updated July 22, 2026.