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California gunman’s ongoing feud with neighbors may have led to shooting, mother says
Shooting rampage leaves 4 dead, 10 wounded in California
The California gunman whose Tuesday rampage left four people dead and nearly a dozen injured was embroiled in a longstanding dispute with neighbors that included an arrest for allegedly stabbing one of them.
Kevin Neal’s mother, who only identified herself as Anne, said her son was feeling frustrated and sounded desperate about the ongoing dispute with his neighbors. She said her son claimed his neighbors were running a methamphetamine lab with fumes that were harming his nine dogs.
“I’m on a cliff and there’s nowhere to go,” he reportedly told his mother about the situation.
Two women embrace outside Rancho Tehama Elementary School, where a gunman opened fire Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017, in Corning, Calif. (Associated Press)
His mother told the Associated Press that her son called him the day before the shooting saying: “Mom it’s all over now. I have done everything I could do and I am fighting against everyone who lives in this area.”
Apparently infuriated by the longstanding dispute, Neal, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns, opened fire in seven different locations across the tiny rural community of Rancho Tehama Reserve, including near an elementary school. His first two victims were two of his neighbors.
Neal was later killed in a shootout with police.
According to authorities, Neal was out on bail for a charge of stabbing his neighbor and had been the subject of complaints from other neighbors who said he had been firing off hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Brian Flint told the Record Searchlight newspaper after the shooting that his neighbor was the gunman.
A woman and a child sit by an elementary school where a gunman opened fire in the community of Rancho Tehama Reserve in Corning, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. (Associated Press)
“The crazy thing is that the neighbor has been shooting a lot of bullets lately, hundreds of rounds, large magazines,” Flint said. “We made it aware that this guy is crazy and he’s been threatening us.” He added Neal stole his truck.
A day before the shooting, police were sent to Neal’s home on a domestic violence call, but no other details on the matter were immediately released.
Anne, who lives in Raleigh, N.C., where she raised Neal, said she posted his $160,000 bail and spent $10,000 on a lawyer after he was arrested in January.
It’s not yet clear what the terms of Neal’s bail were, and whether he would have been allowed to possess and fire the weapons on his property.
Law enforcement officers are seen Tuesday at an elementary school in the community of Rancho Tehama Reserve. (Associated Press)
His sister, Sheridan Orr, told the Daily Mail her brother had “no business” owning weapons. She said he had struggled with mental illness throughout his life and at times had a violent temper, adding that he confided in his mother on an almost daily basis.
“He would get wound up and I think she spent a lot of time calming him down,” she told the Daily Mail. “He would be irrational, irate and uncontrollable, and scream and yell. It was difficult to manage him.”
Cristal Caravez and her father live across a ravine from the roadway where the gunman and his first victims lived.
She said they and others heard constant gunfire from the area of the gunman’s house, but couldn’t say for sure it was him firing.
“You could hear the yelling. He’d go off the hinges,” she said. The shooting, “it would be during the day, during the night, I mean, it didn’t matter.”
Crime tape blocks off Rancho Tehama Road leading into the Rancho Tehama subdivision south of Red Bluff, Calif., following a fatal shooting on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. (Jim Schultz/The Record Searchlight via AP)
She and her father, Juan, who is president of the homeowners association, said neighbors would complain to the sheriff’s department, which referred the complaints back to the homeowners association.
“The sheriff wouldn’t do anything about it,” Juan Caravez said.
Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said Neal was facing charges of assaulting one of the neighbors in January and that she had a restraining order against him.
Johnston did not comment on how Neal had access to firearms.
Johnston declined to identify the shooter, but he confirmed the gunman was charged with assault in January and had a restraining order placed against him. The district attorney, Gregg Cohen, told the Sacramento Bee he was prosecuting a man named Kevin Neal in that case.
“I think the motive of getting even with his neighbors and when it went that far — he just went on a rampage,” Johnston said.
Police said surveillance video shows Neal unsuccessfully trying to enter a nearby elementary school after quick-thinking staff members locked the outside doors and barricaded themselves inside when they heard gunshots.
Johnston said the gunman spent about six minutes shooting into Rancho Tehama Elementary School before driving off to continue shooting elsewhere. Johnston said one student was shot but is expected to survive.
Stephanie Turner, who was dropping off her 6-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, told The Sacramento Bee she saw a white pickup “rammed through the bus gate” and noticed a man stalking the school grounds.
“I thought there was a car accident,” Turner said. “I pulled into the school and heard gunshots. I told my kids to get down onto the floor. Then I saw a guy in the back of the school with a rifle. As soon as he saw us, he started shooting at us. I just took off.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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