Cops identify gunman in California elementary school shooting – Kevin Janson Neal, 44, had troubled history with neighbors
Police identified Kevin Janson Neal as the gunman in California elementary school shooting
The gunman in an elementary school neighborhood shooting that claimed five lives in California was identified as Kevin Janson Neal.
Neal, 44, shot both inside and outside Rancho Tehama Elementary School, on Tuesday Morening during the early morning school drop off period, killing four and injuring another 10 people. The suspect was gunned down by police Tuesday, in the Rancho Tehama Reserve, in Southern California.
Another body count was added to his ta;ly on Wednesday when Assistant Tehama County sheriff Phil Johnston told the media that the suspect apparently shot his wife to death Monday and cut a hole in the floorboards of their home to hide her body: “He shot her at some point, probably late Monday…put her body in the floor and covered her up,” Johnston said.
“We believe that’s probably what started this whole event.”
Johnston also said his deputies have responded to the Neal residence multiple times in the past after neighbors reported gunshots coming from the house. The pattern continued on Monday when neighbors told police they had heard quarreling at the Neal home but no one alerted authorities.
“They thought it was a domestic violence incident between Mr. Neal and his wife. It was unreported to the sheriff’s office, no one called it in,” Jonhston said.
“Every time we responded we would try to make contact with Mr. Neal,” Johnston said. “He was not law enforcement friendly, he would not come to the door. His house was arranged in a manner where we couldn’t detect him being there.”
On Tuesday police said, at least three weapons were used in the shooting. Another gun was found in the pickup Neal was driving.
“This man was very, very intent on completing what he set out to do today,” Johnston said. “The shooter was bent on killing and shooting people at random.”
Tehama County Superintendent of Schools Rich DuVarney there were no student or staff fatalities.
Five people are dead, including the suspect, Kevin Neal, in a mass shooting at and around a school in Rancho Tehama, California. At least 10 other victims have been hospitalized, including two children
Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston, who called the incident a “bizarre and murderous rampage,” said it appeared the motive for the shooting “looks like a guy trying to get even with his neighbor.”
“This guy was on a killing rampage,” he said.
The injured included a child who was in a car with his mother when the gunman opened fire. The child’s wound was not life-threatening, but the mother’s injuries are, Sheriff Johnston said. A ssecond child was shot at the school.
“It’s a very sad day for us in Tehama County,” a deputy, visibly shaken, said earlier in the day.
Neal’sshooting spree began shortly after 8 a.m. near Bobcat and Fawn lanes where Neal shot two people dead and stole a car. He crashed the car, and a man stopped to ask whether he was okay, Neal shot at that man but missed before stealing the good Sameritan’s vehicle.
he then shot 20 to 30 rounds at the school, and went into a bathroom, the only part of the school not locked down. Six minutes later, he emerged and drove off still shooting at people in various parts of the community, including a pickup with a woman and two kids inside. The woman was seriously injured, and one child received minor injuries.
Law enforcement saw Neal shooting at the pickup and gave chase, ramming his vehicle, forcing it off the road, and then two deputies killed him in a shootout. Johnston said the deputies, who weren’t injured, found the gunman dead inside a car.
They also found the semiautomatic rifle and two handguns they say he used. A second long gun was also recovered. One of the long guns appeared to be an AR-15, Johnston said. The entire incident lasted 45 minutes.
Neal’s exact motive remains unclear, as witnesses reported seeing him driving around the community near Red Bluff, California, shooting randomly from his car. Local authorities said however, he had a history of problems with neighbors.
Casey Burnett saw Neal driving around the community near Red Bluff, California, shooting randomly from his car
Asst. Sheriff Johnston said the suspect had been involved in a domestic violence situation Monday and, a few months earlier, a stabbing.
Neal had been arrested in January for stabbing a woman and robbing another woman, both of who later got a restraining order against him. Johnston said the woman Neal stabbed was one of the fatalities in Tuesday’s shooting.
Court records also show Neal had misdemeanor hit and run case in 2013.N He was out on $160,000 bond when he went on his killing spree.
Faculty and parents react at the Rancho Tehama school after he shooting on Tuesday morning
Neal lived in one of a pocket of mobile homes scattered around a home in the Rancho Tehama Reserve, described on its website as a “quiet private country community” located 12 miles west of Interstate 5 between Red Bluff and Corning. The isolated rural subdivision with a population around 1,485 people and poverty rate of 43 percent.
The neighborhood where Neal lived neighborhood is noted for it’s numerous marijuana grows.
A local Resident Brian Flint said his neighbor was injured by Neal, and his truck was stolen. Adding that living near Kevin Neal was “hell,” Flint said, the gunman often harassed him and other members of the community.
“The crazy thing is that [Neal] has been shooting a lot of bullets lately, hundreds of rounds, large magazines,” Flint said.
“We made [authorities], aware that this guy is crazy and he’s been threatening us.”
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