  The MiniBooNE low-energy excess is a longstanding problem which has received
further confirmation recently with a reanalysis using newly collected data,
with the anomaly now at the $4.8\sigma$ level. In this letter we propose a
novel explanation which advocates a low-energy sector containing $Z^\prime$
bosons with GeV-scale masses and sterile neutrinos with masses around
$100$-$500$ MeV. We show that this scenario can provide an excellent spectral
agreement with the MiniBooNE low-energy excess in the form of
$Z^\prime$-mediated neutral current production of heavy sterile states, a
fraction of whose subsequent decay to $e^+e^-$ pairs are misidentified as
single electron-like electromagnetic showers. Our model inscribes itself in the
broad class of models in which sterile neutrinos are charged under novel
interactions, allowing new couplings to hidden-sector physics. Alongside the
electron-like MiniBooNE signature this model also predicts a novel,
low-background, signal in LArTPC detectors such as MicroBooNE consisting of two
distinguishable electron-like electromagnetic showers originating from a single
vertex with no associated hadronic activity.
