5 dead after a gunman sprays bullets into a school while terrorizing a Northern California town

 

Five people were killed, including the suspected gunman, in a shooting Tuesday morning near an elementary school in a small rural community of California, about 190 kilometers north of the state capital of Sacramento. 

Several people were also injured, including three minors, as multiple shots were fired in Rancho Tehama. It is believed that the bloody incident, which lasted for about 45 minutes, might have been triggered by a domestic dispute. The gunman, in his 50s, drove out of home after a quarrel in the morning, then shot at people along the street randomly. At one point, he terrorized a local elementary school. Witnesses said he crashed through the school’s gates with his truck and opened fire, spraying walls and classrooms with bullets. Teachers and other adults on campus frantically got the students under desks.

The gunman's deadly rampage through rural Rancho Tehama was stopped when police rammed his vehicle and exchanged shots in a fierce gun battle, authorities said. Tehama County assistant sheriff Phil Johnston said that two children were among the wounded. He said police received a call at about 8:00 a.m. reporting that multiple shots were fired at the school. The policemen found a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns at the scene. He added that the school was cleared, and the children who were attending school were moved to a safe location.
"I am told the suspected shooter is deceased by law enforcement bullets," said the deputy.
He added: "We have about 100 law enforcement personnel in Rancho Tehama, working on at least five scenes."

Johnston said the gunman killed a man and a female neighbor he had an ongoing feud with. He said the gunman’s dispute with neighbors may have sparked the violence.
"I think the motive of getting even with his neighbors and when it went that far — he just went on a rampage," Johnston speculated.
According to the local Redding Record Searchlight newspaper, five people were killed in the mass shooting and at least ten wounded people including children had been sent to three hospitals in north California. The report said
Brian Flint, a young man told the Redding Record Searchlight that the suspect was a known felon and often harassed him and the other neighbors. Flint said in video clips posted online by the newspaper that he got a call in the morning that his roommate was injured, his truck had been stolen, and his neighbor was identified as the gunman.
"The crazy thing is that the neighbor has been shooting a lot of bullets lately, hundreds of rounds, large magazines. We made it aware that this guy is crazy and he's been threatening us," Flint said.

The authorities refused to disclose the identity of the shooter but the sister of the gunman confirmed his identity as Kevin Janson Neal, 44. Sheridan Orr, of North Carolina, told Los Angeles Times that her brother had a history of mental illness and episodes of rage.
"There are certain people that do not need guns, and my brother was clearly one of them," she said.








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