Shooting suspect’s father was 1st to die
One of the two people fatally gunned down in a rampage Monday in the Lake County town of Clearlake Oaks was the 85-year-old father of the gunman, who also shot and wounded a woman and a California Highway Patrol officer, authorities said Tuesday.
Investigators have yet to determine why 61year-old Alan Ashmore went on the deadly shooting spree, but said it started just after 11 a.m. at the home of his father, Douglas Ashmore.
Alan Ashmore fatally shot his dad with a semiautomatic handgun outside the elderly man’s home in the 13000 block of Anchor Village in the Clear Lake Keys area of Clearlake Oaks, said Lt. Norm Taylor of the Lake County Sheriff ’s Office. The suspect also shot a 22-year-old Middletown woman in the foot during an argument inside the house, Taylor said.
Ashmore also fired at several neighbors, but missed, Taylor said.
During the spate of violence, which lasted about 90 minutes, Alan Ashmore fired shots at several houses, a winery and two gas stations and set wildfires. Heleft authorities with seven crime scenes to investigate, Taylor said.
Even before the gunfire began, neighbors noticed trouble was afoot, Taylor said. Richard Braden, 64, a longtime friend of Ashmore, was seen at Douglas Ashmore’s residence banging on the front door and windows, Taylor said.
When no one answered, Braden parked nearby on Anchor Village and sat in his car, only to be shot to death by Ashmore, Taylor said.
Ashmore then tore around town in his white Chevrolet Tahoe, armed with a Remington 1200 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun, a Raven arms .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol and numerous rounds of ammunition, Taylor said.
He drove to a neighbor’s house on Anchor Village andshot at the residence, prompting a woman inside to jump out a window and suffer non-life-threatening injuries, Taylor said.
Ashmore shot at several other houses, including one of a former employer, before a CHP officer tried to pull him over, Taylor said. The officer was shot in the leg during the confrontation and was treated at a hospital and released, said Officer Kory Reynolds of the CHP office in Kelseyville.
Ashmore fled in his sport utility vehicle to a Chevron station in the 13200 block of Highway 20, Taylor said.
Bob George, the owner of the Chevron station, said he was in a backroom receiving a delivery from a beer vendor when he heard a “great, big, loud boom.”
He said Ashmore entered the station’s market just as the vendor was leaving. He said Ashmore bumped into the vendor and nearly knocked him over.
“The vendor turned to him and said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ and the guy turned around and shot the gun,” George said. “He was like 5 feet away from the vendor when he shot the gun.”
The round missed the vendor and hit an advertising sign, breaking the front window.
As George ran out of the back door, he saw Ashmore running to his vehicle with a shotgun and a 2-liter Pepsi. The beer vendor, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, returned fire, shattering the windows of Ashmore’s SUV, George said.
After the shooting at the Chevron, Ashmore drove to the Power Mart on Highway 20 near Foothill Boulevard, where he stole a pack of cigarettes, a cigarette lighter and had an altercation with another person, Taylor said. There were no reported injuries.
As he drove east on Highway 20 toward High Valley Road, Ashmore set several wildfires, Taylor said, just days after the Sulphur Fire tore through the area and destroyed more than 150 homes while burning 2,207 acres. The fires were quickly put out by the Northshore Fire Protection District and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Taylor added.
Ashmore made a pit stop at Brassfield Winery, on the 10000 block of High Valley Road, where he shot at a person there, but missed, Taylor said.
Police caught up with Ashmore and chased him until he ran into a roadblock set up by CHP officers and a Lakeport police officer at Bartlett Springs and High Valley roads. He surrendered without incident and was arrested on suspicion of murder and robbery.