&ABROAD UK

School foils rampaging gunman

OFFICIALS WHO locked their school’s doors when a gunman went on the rampage which killed four people, saved the lives of many pupils, authorities said.

Surveillance video showed the gunman trying unsuccessfully to enter the school in northern California.

Their swift decision to lock the doors after hearing gunfire was “monumental” in saving the lives of countless children, Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said. The gunman behind the rampage was out on bail accused of stabbing a neighbour.

Kevin Neal used a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns to shoot 14 people in seven different locations across his rural community, including an elementary school, before he died in a shootout with police.

The gunman left the school after he could not get inside and purposely crashed the stolen truck he was driving into another vehicle and shot at its occupants.

He stole the car of a person who stopped to check on the crash and ran away when confronted with a gun. He continued the rampage until police shot him about 45 minutes after it started.

It is 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 at the end of a dirt road in Rancho Tehama reserve, 130 miles north of Sacramento.

Other people had complained about him firing hundreds of rounds from his house and he had been the subject of a domestic violence call the day before the attack.

His many contacts with authorities raised questions of why he was out of custody and able to go on the 45-minute rampage that began with the killing of two neighbours before he went looking for random victims.

Cristal Caravez and her father live across a ravine from the road 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 could not say for sure it was him firing.

“You could hear the yelling. He’d go off the hinges,” she said. “It (shooting) would be during the day, during the night, I mean, it didn’t matter.”

Neighbours would complain to the sheriff’s department, which referred the complaints back to the homeowners association.

The gunman’s sister, Sheridan Orr, said her brother had struggled with mental illness throughout his life and at times had a violent temper.

“This man was very, very bent on completing what he set out to do,” the assistant sheriff said.

The shootings occurred in the rural community of Rancho Tehama Reserve, a homeowners’ association of modest houses and trailers in rolling oak woodlands dotted with grazing cattle about 130 miles north of Sacramento.

Brian Flint told a newspaper in the city of Redding that his neighbour, whom he knows only as Kevin, was the gunman and that his roommate was among the victims. He said the shooter stole his truck.

“The crazy thing is that the neighbour has been shooting a lot of bullets lately, hundreds of rounds, large magazines,” Mr Flint said. “We made it aware that this guy is crazy and he’s been threatening us.”

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots and children screaming at the school. Mr Johnston said a student shot at the school was flown by helicopter to a hospital, and another student was wounded in a car on the way to school.

Salvador Tello said the gunman fired at a truck in front of him as he went to drop off his three children at school. He slammed into reverse and sped away.