More details have emerged about the chronology of Tuesday’s shooting rampage in at Rancho Tehama Reserve, with officials describing an unhinged gunman executing his wife and neighbor before unleashing terror on the neighborhood elementary school.
Kevin Janson Neal, already under a court order to surrender firearms and out on bail and awaiting trial after allegedly stabbing a neighbor who complained she lived in fear, opened fire at seven different sites, shooting at neighbors, passersby, and into homes.
Records show Neal certified that he surrendered his weapons in February, but deputies recovered two illegal assault rifles, likely assembled from freely available kits and two handguns registered to someone else.
Gun ownership and random gunfire is not uncommon in the area.
Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston told reporters Wednesday that one of the victims, a woman driving her children to school in a large pickup truck tried to defend herself with her own weapon.
“She did pull out her handgun,” Johnston said. “She was not able to use it and did not fire it, because he after dumping about eight or so rounds into the side panel of her driver’s door, he continued to flee, he just left.”
The woman’s injuries were described as severe. A child in the truck, also struck by gunfire, is expected to survive.