That just didn't happen for us in this case," he says. That was a big mistake.". Shooter Kevin Neal threatened out loud that he was going to kill Danny Elliott and then go to the elementary school to kill Elliott's 7-year-old son, said Johnny Phommathep, a neighbor who li Neals shooting put Rancho Tehama Reserve known by locals as Rancho Tehama or simply the Ranch on the map, but only briefly. There's a sense that deputies here failed to stop a man that appeared troubled and who was sporadically violent: he had attacked and stabbed his neighbor. Source: Tehama County Sheriff. He has not, and he will not, talk about his father. "I do believe the sheriff's department dropped the ball when they let this guy (gunman Kevin Neal) live out here with a lot of guns," says local realtor Vern Wilson, who has lived in Rancho Tehama for more than two decades. (Rancho Tehama lacks a police or sheriffs department, and, for that matter, a medical facility.). The injured victims were transported to several area clinics and hospitals. Neighbors also complained that he fired off weapons regularly even though he wasn't supposed to have any firearms under the terms of the TRO. He hid her body beneath the floor of their home. The damaged school gate has been replaced. When the couple inside the car got out and tried to run for safety, Neil shot them. "There was no question about it, it was too close to us and it was," she pauses her voice cracking with emotion. That seemed strange, so as the sound of gunfire intensified, Wythe grabbed the dog and fell to the floor. [11] The woman was shot five times, four near her heart. [14][17], After fleeing the school, Neal crashed the pickup truck into another vehicle and fired at the two occupants as they tried to flee; the female driver was killed, and her husband was wounded in the legs. [5][11][32] The other victims were 56-year-old Joseph McHugh III and 55-year-old Michelle McFadyen;[11] police believe they were randomly targeted. The killing of the woman, whose name has not been released, raises the death toll to five at the hands of suspect Kevin Janson Neal, 43, who also is dead. Sarah Lobdell is the secretary at Rancho Tehama Elementary School. Both Ferreira and Sanders also saw Troy McFadyen, shot in the leg, sitting on the road beside his deceased wife. Here's the things we look for: shell casings on the ground, something fresh that we could use, evidence that we could use to write a search warrant. I lost my marriage over it, which I dont care, because my main thing was I wanted to make sure Gage was safe and he felt safe.. The sheriff's office set up surveillance a few times. He also said that a double funeral would be held for his stepmother and stepbrother Friday in Sacramento. Rancho Tehama is a remote, sparsely populated, rural unincorporated community in Tehama County, California, that had a population of 1,485 in 2010. But Neal secretly kept several homemade, unregistered AR-15 semi-automatic weapons and handguns. In reply to R.V. Elliott was Sanders best friend, so it was emotionally difficult for Sanders to speak about Elliott as he shared some background. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) James Woods Jr. was driving near Rancho Tehama Elementary with his father, James Woods Sr., in . Ten people suffered bullet wounds and eight were cut by flying glass caused by the gunfire. He never went back to Rancho Tehama Elementary School after that day, when he and approximately 100 other students were locked down after staffers heard gunfire nearby and quickly hustled them in from recess. However, some citizens complain that in addition to the rampant gunfire, its the kind of place that has a troubling amount of illegal pot growers and drug dealers, which brings with it a whole other set of problems. He was named locally as 43-year-old Kevin Neal. Sanders said he knows he probably needs years of therapy and mental health treatment, but his anxiety and emotions kept him from going to see the therapists who were made available in Rancho Tehama immediately after the incident. Ferreira said he thought the shooting lasted about 20 to 25 minutes. [9][10][8], After killing his neighbors, Neal stole a pickup truck that belonged to one of his victims. Gunman Kevin Janson Neal is believed to have spent six minutes shooting into the school before driving off to continue his shooting spree. Outside Rancho Tehama Elementary School after the shooting on Nov. 14, 2017. They said everyone knew it, including law enforcement. I feel like if I wanted to go I cant.. Dale Dykes shows the location of the fatal shootout between officers and Kevin Neal that left Neal dead. They show up in people's psyches, or behind closed doors. Photos by Steve DuBois.). Relatives said Neal, who moved to California in 2005, had a history of mental illness and anger management issues, as well as an obsession with conspiracy theories. If you are a victim of domestic violence or know of someone who is a victim, there is help. I was going to take a picture, but didnt have my camera on me. Over two days, according to the FBI, five people were slain and 14 others were wounded, including five children at Rancho Tehama Elementary School, before the gunman, 44-year-old Kevin Janson Neal, took his own life. [1][37] Police said that, despite this, he illegally manufactured the guns he used in the shootings. We wanted to see how people in this small community were coping now that all that coverage has faded. In 2017, this census-designated place with fewer than 2,000 residents made national headlines in the same way as towns like Newtown, Conn., Parkland, Fla., and Uvalde, Texas. James Woods Jr., 25, with daughter Nevaeh, 5. According to Sanders sister, Tina, when Neal got close to the school again, he crashed the vehicle he was driving into another vehicle just a short distance down the road from Sanders mothers home. Lobdell immediately called for every child and teacher to go inside, fast, and get into lock down mode they'd practiced. Kevin Janson Neal shot Woods in the face during the 2017 rampage. Among those killed was Neals wife. Sanders seemed like an open guy who talks as if he has a positive outlook on life. Nine months before the shooting rampage, a judge had issued Neal a restraining order at a neighbor's request and ordered him to surrender his guns. Sanders said he was furious when he saw who it was; that Neal was the shooter trying to kill kids. But that high regard hasnt meant much for Sanders everyday life. Kevin Janson Neal, went on a killing spree, shooting his wife and his neighbors. Bruehl said Neal had an AK-47, and he and Wythe were both wondering where the cops were. The gunman, identified by the Sacramento Bee and members of the Rancho Tehama, as Kevin Janson Neal, 44, shot both inside and outside Rancho Tehama Elementary School, Johnston said. As… Continue reading Kevin Janson Neal: Rancho . Neal shot and killed four other people and wounded 10 at different locations around the rural community of Rancho Tehama Reserve. [9][18][20] One of the injured students, six-year-old Alejandro Hernandez, was the youngest victim; he was shot in the chest and leg, had to be airlifted to UC Davis, and required multiple surgeries. Gage never again saw fellow students who hid under their desks while Neal fired clip after clip at the school, including a 6-year-old who survived being shot in the chest by a bullet that traveled through a classroom wall. And she actually just the other day brought up the shootings again. [29], The day before the shootings, Neal called his mother to tell her he was "fed up" with his neighbors, whom he suspected of making methamphetamine. I spoke with Jim, the husband of Sara, the quick-thinking school secretary who put the school on lockdown. (Elijah Nouvelage / AFP / Getty Images) By Alene Tchekmedyian Staff Writer [9][17] A six-year-old student was also injured by a gunshot to the chest. He said the look of fear in his sisters eyes was frightening. Coy Ferreira and Sanders both said they saw Michelle McFadyens body off to the side of the road. Like Gage, Sanders son also was at Rancho Tehama Elementary when Neal arrived after shooting multiple people on his way from Bobcat Lane. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. The board did pay out more than $14,000 in total to families of the dead to help pay for funeral expenses. Connor Sheets is an investigative and enterprise reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Hencratt is named among the defendants, which include Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston, Tehama County Sheriff's Office, Tehama County, the estate of Neal and the Rancho Tehama Association. And then I have to do implants. They say he chose random targets and stole two vehicles during the rampage. "Everyone's got their antennas up. A man who saw the crash pulled over to help, and Neal shot at him. that Kevin Janson Neal, a 44-year-old resident of the small community in Northern California, was the . . His neighbors had complained he had fired multiple rounds for days before this rampage that ended up at this elementary school. The front yard where Tehama County, Calif., gunman Kevin Janson Neal lived with his wife, Barbara. Sanders was then handcuffed and put into a squad car. Rancho Tehama Elementary Schools gate is near Johnny Wythes property, a place where the sound of gunfire is routine. 2017 . And the month before, in Americas deadliest mass shooting, a gunman massacred a crowd of festival-goers in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and leaving more than 850 others injured. Was the gunman targeting the boy? (CNN) - Los tiroteos mortales que perpetr Kevin Neal en el Norte de California pudieron ser provocados por el asesinato de su esposa, segn informaron . He felt relieved to not see a shooter anywhere in the quad. The shooting incident took place near the Rancho Tehama Elementary school when some parents were dropping off their children. But just below the surface it's clear people here are still grappling with the aftermath of a local man's murderous rampage nearly three months ago that killed five and wounded 12 others. Sanders later surmised that when officers saw him, they erroneously thought he may have been a second shooter. Neal went on a 25-minute tear through the community, starting just down the road from his home, where he killed his neighbor and two men, then stole a Ford F-150 pickup and drove north, said Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston. To many in town, hes a hero, though he says he dislikes the term. It's not clear why the wounded have received so little thus far. But she said the schools in Sacramento gave Gage no support whatever.. For those who were shot, it paid for medical bills. She's used to the echo of gunfire in this rural community. He opened fire near his home on Bobcat Lane in Rancho Tehama then drove off. But he said his son doesnt feel safe living in Rancho Tehama Reserve, and neither of them has the money to leave town. [5] In addition, seven children suffered injuries from shattered glass. Every bullet missed but the one that grazed his arm. Sanders recalled a pivotal incident. Neal was outside, beating his wife Barbara Gilsan. [9][35] His mother had reportedly noticed a decline in his mental health since 2016. [10][4] Following his release, Neal continued to harass the neighbors, causing them to successfully seek a restraining order that required him to surrender his firearms and not purchase additional guns. They struck out. hide caption. By the time I walked back to the gas station, Jim had gotten off work and was gone. Kevin Janson Neal and his wife lived at the end of the road, at the bottom of a ravine, in a battered baby-blue trailer home with a front yard full of broken-down cars . [1] He handed over a single pistol and attested that he had no other guns. [5] At an intersection, he bumped the truck into a vehicle carrying a woman and her three sons. At one point during his shooting spree, Neal rammed through the locked gates at Rancho Tehama Elementary School, before classes began. Krystal, who was a fifth-grader then, remembers hearing gunfire. [7] Recorded video shows Neal going into a field behind the school and firing into the air, apparently in frustration at being locked out of the classrooms. "But it's real. At that point Bruehl said he went out front and heard a lot of gunshots a crazy amount of shots fired as he saw Neal trying to free a truck from the gate. He gets good grades, she said, but for four years, he kept to himself, he made no friends, he didnt want to go out anywhere. . When they got out, Neal shot them, killing one. [5][18][25][26][27][28] The victims included two students at Rancho Tehama Elementary School and Michelle McFadyen's husband. There is only one way in, and one way out, and thats via Rancho Tehama Road. [12], At the Rancho Tehama Elementary School, Sarah Lobdell, the school's secretary, heard the gunfire near the school and quickly ordered the school to go on lockdown. I did get some clarification on the tragedy, but not on all the victims. Kevin Janson Neal attended East Carolina University from August 2001 to May 2004 but did not qualify for a degree and never declared a major. In fact, she says, she never stopped. Rich Pedroncelli/AP Sanders explained that he and his young son used to live with friends Diana Steele and her son Danny Elliott. When she heard the shots last November, she immediately called for every child and teacher to get inside and go into lock down mode. Jessie Sanders was grazed by one of Kevin Neals bullets. On the morning of the shooting, Neal went to Elliott and Steeles house. Kevin Neal. Kevin Janson Neal shot Woods in the face during the 2017 rampage. Sarah Lobdell is the secretary at Rancho Tehama Elementary School. Some media reported that police believe Neal went home after he left the school, and took off in yet another stolen vehicle. Nov 15, 2017, 03:54 PM EST. Either way, during the shooting Tina drove her car up to the school with Sanders as people were rushing away, telling them to get out of there. Sanders got into his sisters car and the pair rushed toward the school. Target practice; hunters; the odd drunk shooting at the moon. Then I started walking around the area taking pictures as that location is the entrance to the small community. Its much closer as the crow flies, but theres only one way into the small community. Law enforcement arrived and a shootout ensued. The woman, who had a concealed carry permit, pulled out her own handgun but was unable to fire it before Neal drove away, Johnston said. Woods Sr. said his son would have applied for the funding earlier, but the trauma including the fire pain of being shot and the first round of dental treatments only recently subsided enough for Woods Jr. to take that step. There are terrific days and we're all so thankful," she says. Tensions escalated. The boy suffered non-life-threatening wounds, but the mother was seriously injured, Johnston said. When he stopped firing, she says he continued toward the school. Three months later, Mike says, people are still on edge. Since January 31, 2018, ghost guns required a serial number in the state. He began freelancing for the Orange County Register and relocated to south Florida in 2001, when he was awarded a fellowship through the Freedom Forum. [22][23][24] The 25-minute attack took place at eight crime scenes using one semi-automatic ghost rifle and two semi-automatic pistols. The Tehama County Sheriffs Office on Thursday released the names of the five people killed by a gunman who rampaged through Rancho Tehama on Tuesday, spraying bullets at several locations, including an elementary school. One of Neal's neighbors later claimed that Neal was targeting the seven-year-old son of the neighbor he killed earlier. Yes it did.". That disparity echoes researchers findings that the higher the body count, the more the media attention, and the greater the outpouring of assistance, said James Densley, a sociologist and criminal justice professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. That was the fifth-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. A GoFundMe set up after the shooting to help the Woods family raised less than $6,000. The five killed by Neal were 38-year-old Barbara Ann Gilsan (Neals wife), 38-year-old Danny Lee Elliott, and his mother 68-year-old Diana Steel (Neals neighbors, two doors down), 56-year-old Joseph Edward McHugh III (Neals next-door neighbor), and 55-year-old Michelle Iris McFadyen. Its the kind of place where a man with a history of violence can beat his wife in his front yard, igniting a deadly feud when hes asked to stop, or take it inside. He heard his daughters teacher, Miss Nelson, yelling loudly for all the kids to get inside NOW! By then it was about 7:58 to 7:59 a.m. On Wednesday, California investigators announced that Kevin Neal, a gunman who killed four people in a series of shootings on Tuesday, may have begun his deadly rampage by murdering his wife. During the shooting spree, five people were killed and eighteen others were injured at eight separate crime scenes, including an elementary school. Authorities . Since the rampage, an armed security officer is now posted at the school full time. Worried about all the kids, and in a rush of anger, Sanders said he ran into the quad toward Neal, who was shooting in Sanders direction. When Kevin Janson Neal, 44, began what authorities described as a "murderous rampage" in a neighborhood in Tehama County about 130 miles north of Sacramento, his father, his father's girlfriend . David said that after Neal murdered the mother and son, Neal killed their neighbor, Joseph Edward McHugh III, then stole his truck before driving down the road, shooting at cars and homes as he made his way to Rancho Tehama Elementary School. Other than that, we get no help from anybody. They asked that the public keeps its focus on the victims. The attack ended when the gunman, Kevin Janson Neal, took his own life. By the time 44-year-old Kevin Neal was finally stopped fatally shot by officers Neal had killed five people and injured 18. All of it, all of his problems are from this incident in Tehama.. "The reason we have a situation where I have one student injured on campus and nothing worse happening on campus is because of the heroic actions of all members of my school staff," Fitzpatrick said. "I used to really believe that my job and being a law enforcement officer was to help protect people and I believe that I can't control that. Among the injured was a 6-year-old boy, shot while inside his classroom. He praised his staff. Here's when they take effect", "Tehama County shooting update: Gunman's wife found dead", "Shooting rampage in California highlights "ghost guns" and their dangers", "Tehama County certifies final June election results", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rancho_Tehama_shootings&oldid=1140470783, Barbara Ann Glisan (aka Gilsan), 38 (Neal's wife, shot at their home), Danny Lee Elliott, 38 (Neal's neighbor, shot at home), Diana Lee Steele, 68 (Elliott's mother, shot at home), Joseph Edward McHugh III, 56 (unknown location), Michelle Iris McFadyen, 55 (killed in vehicle crash), Tiffany Nai Phommathep, 31 (shot in vehicle), John Phommathep Jr., 10 (Tiffany's son, shot in vehicle), Jake Phommathep, 6 (Tiffany's son, shot in vehicle), Jessie Allen Sanders, 39 (shot near elementary school), Francisco Gudino Cardenas (shot in vehicle), Alejandro Hernandez, 6 (shot at elementary school), Troy Lee McFadyen, 59 (Michelle McFadyen's husband, shot near vehicle), This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 05:56. The result is multiple stories, many of them second- and even third-hand; some of them conflicting. [18][8] A woman was also shot when she attempted to distract Neal from the school. And we still have that sense of 'we can't believe this really happened. It was gone, gone. It is believed the shooting spree began after a domestic row with the gunman's neighbours in Rancho Tehama, a rural community about 120 miles (195km . Rancho Tehama Elementary School was targeted by a gunman on Tuesday. I've got my antennas up all the time. Before they split up, Feitelberg and her husband successfully applied to be Gages legal guardians, which enabled them to receive Social Security payments on his behalf. Yet Kevin Neal was free and able to use a semi-automatic rifle . Sanders felt enraged, and shouted to Neal to shoot in his direction, hoping to distract him from the kids. I'm scared Lol. He was arrested and jailed in Tehama County, but Neal made a $160,000 bail and was freed, allowing him to return . "Every. But they still have to rip all my teeth out, and then I have to do a bone graft.. We were helping with that for a good two years afterward.. The shooters wife was nowhere to be found. The attack killed four people and left nearly 12 more injured. The six injured adults were 31-year-old Tiffany Nai Phommathep, 43-year-old James Wood, 20-year-old James Wood II, 34-year-old Francisco Gudino Cardenas, 47-year-old Troy Lee McFadyen, and 39-year-old Sanders, whose bravery helped save many lives at the elementary school. James Woods Sr., 47, at a park in Rancho Tehama Reserve. But on Nov. 14 she knew this gunfire was different. Gunman Kevin Janson Neal is believed to have spent six minutes shooting into the school before driving off to continue his shooting spree. Neal, 44, fatally shot his wife late Monday, Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at a press conference Wednesday. [9][8], Eleven other peoplesix adults and five childrenwere also shot, but survived. "But this was pretty obvious," he continues. She stopped four motorists to help her get to the hospital, but they drove off. And by the time police got to him, Cardenas says, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it. Dykes also showed where Michelle Iris McFadyen was killed on the side of the road. Steele and Elliott lived two doors down from Neal, who murdered the pair last Tuesday. 17:40 ET (22:40 GMT) 15 noviembre, 2017. "He pretty much stopped me and shot at me three times through his windshield," Gonzales said. "On every occasion we responded, asking 'did you actually see him firing a gun?' At that point, a little girl around the age of 5 was so paralyzed with fear that she was unable to move from the playground. Scheide. He was killed during a shoot-out with police. At first it was like, well, we can give you this and that help-you-move-wise, but then youve got to worry about your rent and all your other big bills, Woods Sr. said. He said that three students remained hiding beneath desks, too terrified to move. Police later shot and killed him. As Sanders ran toward Neal he said he could see bullets bouncing everywhere. They were the second and third people shot to death by Neal, who lived in a light-blue mobile home barely 100 yards from their property. Kevin Jansen Neal, 43, was charged with assault in January . Authorities said all of the adults lived in Rancho Tehama, a rural Northern California town with a population of about 1,500. hide caption. The kids will return to school on Mon., Nov. 27, after Thanksgiving break. In using the term, "domestic terrorist," I am . Kevin Janson Neal mugshot. She told how, as she drove up the road toward home, she saw her brother Sanders walking along the road. Ferreira said that about 7:57, about two minutes after the father and daughter had left the office, they heard shooting. He said hes gotten no help at all from the government since he was shot, but he hopes to receive state funding to help pay for dental implants. We're not sure how.". Its definitely affected Gage, and it will for the rest of his life.. [1][8] His motive remains unclear. Everything happened so fast that the details in those moments are sketchy for Sanders, but he said that in retrospect he thinks another car tried to ram the stolen truck, which may have caused Neal to drive away. Sanders and Ferreira both expressed frustration that the mass murder that happened in their community exactly one week ago was not just senseless, but preventable. Coy Ferreira, left, and Jessie Sanders remain shaken by the traumatic events that happened in their town one week ago. "They were kind of elementary," says Assistant Tehama County Sheriff Phil Johnston. Woods Jr. first filed for state victim compensation this year. I went to my car, got my camera, and was distracted by the town flag I saw flying at half staff across the road. Word around Rancho Tehama was that nobody would stop for Tiffany when she sought help, probably because they thought the woman must have been associated with something bad to have been shot, and they didnt want to get involved. The stolen truck was ultimately rammed by two law enforcement officers, one from the Corning Police Department, who responded from the city of Corning to assist the sheriff's office, and a Tehama County Sheriff's deputy. He showed me a bullet hole in the roof of Saras car. As Neal ran to his truck, still firing at Sanders, Sanders said he figured Neal was trying to get to his truck so he could run Sanders over. And he never saw the banner draped across the schools front columns that declares Rancho Strong in big block letters. Neal obliged, turning his assault-style rifle Sanders direction and firing like 60 times, Sanders said. 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rancho Tehama Reserve. Dozens more were wounded. Jessie Sanders, 44, near where Kevin Janson Neal drove his truck into Rancho Tehama Elementary Schools fence. Chris Van Horne with CalVCB confirms the board, so far, has paid out only $100 in all for medical bills for the 12 wounded in Rancho Tehama. Rancho Tehama is 45 miles from my Redding home. Its the kind of place where the crack of gunfire is normal, with the assumption that its probably just harmless target practice. Rancho Tehama Mass Shooting Attack---=== November 14, 2017 Rancho Tehama Mass Shooting Not Terrorist Attack Kevin Neal The shooting rampage started at a home where he killed his wife Barbara Glisan. The attack ended when the gunman, Kevin Janson Neal, took his own life. Sandra Wells's 5-year-old daughter is happily back at school. . 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